Helen Freedhoff

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Helen Freedhoff
Photo of Helen Freedhoff
Helen Freedhoff, 1961
Born
Helen Sarah Goodman

(1940-01-09)January 9, 1940
Toronto, Ontario
DiedJune 10, 2017(2017-06-10) (aged 77)
Muskoka, Ontario
EducationHarbord Collegiate Institute
Alma materUniversity of Toronto
Known for
SpouseStephen Freedhoff
Children
Scientific career
FieldsTheoretical physics
Institutions
ThesisTheory of dipole-dipole interaction in coherent radiation processes (1965)
Notable studentsTerry Rudolph (PBR theorem)

Helen Sarah Freedhoff (January 9, 1940 – June 10, 2017) was a Canadian theoretical physicist who studied the interaction of light with atoms. She gained her doctorate at the University of Toronto in 1965 and completed a postdoctoral fellowship at Imperial College in London. Freedhoff was the first woman appointed as a physics professor at York University in Toronto, and is believed to have been the only woman professor of theoretical physics in Canada at the time.

Early life and education[edit]

Helen Freedhoff was born Helen Sarah Goodman in Toronto in on 9 January 1940.[1][2] Her parents were Ethel (Kohl) and Sholom Goodman and she had two brothers, David and Irving.[1] Her nickname was "Henchy".[3][1]

In 1957 she graduated from Harbord Collegiate Institute, a downtown public high school with predominantly Jewish students and a history of many earlier notable alumni.[3] Pursuing an academic career in science was unusual for a woman in North America in the post-war 1950s, where young men entered science in great numbers and women were pressured to make way.[4] At Harbord, however, Freedhoff did not face opposition, recalling "In high school it never occurred to me that I would have to play dumb to get dates. Nobody ever really discouraged me. The teachers really encouraged me, and nobody taught me that there was anything wrong with having a career".[3]

Freedhoff enrolled in the Mathematics, Physics, and Chemistry stream at the University of Toronto, one of around 10-15 women among 120 first year students.[5] Originally intending to study mathematics, she found that she preferred physics.[6] Freedhoff was the only woman in her year to major in physics, graduating with the highest marks and being awarded the Governor General's Gold Medal.[5] She did not feel professionally disadvantaged by being the only woman, and felt it could be an advantage to stand out.[6]

Freedhoff had summer jobs in Harold Johns' biophysics lab.[6] Johns was a pioneer of medical biophysics, developing cobalt radiation therapy for cancer in the 1940s.[7] Although she enjoyed her time there, and was interested in the work Harry Welsh was doing on lasers, laboratory work was not her forte.[6] Freedhoff was inspired by Jan Van Kranendonk, a theoretical physicist,[8] who encouraged her to undertake postgraduate studies under his supervision.[6] From then on, she dedicated her career to what she has described as "the exhilaration of scientific research"[9] and teaching. "Basic science," she wrote, "is indeed a high form of culture, no less so than music or literature because it is also useful".[9]

Career and research[edit]

Although women gained nearly 20% of the doctoral degrees awarded in physics by the University of Toronto between 1890 and 1933, Freedhoff was only the second woman to gain a PhD in physics after 1934 at the University of Toronto, following Olga Mracek Mitchell in 1962.[5] Freedhoff earned her PhD in 1965 with a dissertation titled Theory of dipole-dipole interaction in coherent radiation processes.[10] Women were awarded only 5% of the physics doctorates at the University of Toronto between 1960 and 1975.[5]

Freedhoff was awarded a postdoctoral fellowship by the National Research Council of Canada, working at Imperial College, London, from 1965 to 1967.[6][11] She studied means of identifying molecular features of atoms trapped in metals with spectroscopy, work which was partly sponsored by the United States Air Force Office of Scientific Research.[11]

While in London, she wrote to the physics department at York University in Toronto enquiring about job opportunities.[5] In 1967, she was appointed assistant professor in physics there, the university's first woman professor in physics and believed to be Canada's only woman professor in theoretical physics at that time.[12][6][13]

Other than a sabbatical year at the Department of Physics of Technion, the Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa from 1986,[14][15] Freedhoff remained at York University until her retirement in 2005, having published over 40 research papers.[16][17] She also collaborated with physicists in Australia,[18] which led to Terry Rudolph undertaking his doctoral studies under Freedhoff's supervision in the 1990s.[19] He is a professor of physics at Imperial College,[20] and together with Matthew Pusey and Jonathan Barrett, one of the developers of the PBR theorem, an important development in quantum mechanics named for its three authors.[21] Rudolph, who is Erwin Schrödinger's grandson,[22] delivered one of the eulogies at Freedhoff's funeral.[23]

Personal life[edit]

Freedhoff married Stephen Freedhoff when she was around 20.[1] Stephen Freedhoff had graduated with a bachelor of commerce from the University of Toronto in 1957, going on to a career as a chartered accountant and consultant.[13] They had a daughter, Michal Ilana Freedhoff, a son, Yoni Freedhoff, and seven grandchildren.[1] Michal Freedhoff gained a doctorate in solid state chemistry,[24] and went on to serve as a US Congressional Science and Engineering Fellow in the office of Ed Markey.[25] She subsequently worked in a variety of government environmental protection roles, and was appointed Assistant Administrator for the Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention (OCSPP) of the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in 2021.[25] Yoni Freedhoff is an associate professor of Family Medicine at the University of Ottawa and author.[26][1] Helen Freedhoff's personal pastimes included reading, playing piano, solving KenKen puzzles, and yoga.[1]

Helen Freedhoff died suddenly on 10 June 2017 at the family's cottage in Muskoka, Ontario, a lakeside area near Toronto.[2]

Selected publications[edit]

  • W.R. Bruce, M.L. Pearson, Helen S. Freedhoff. The Linear Energy Transfer Distributions Resulting from Primary and Scattered X-Rays and Gamma Rays with Primary HVL's from 1.25 mm Cu to 11 mm Pb. Radiation Research, 19 (4): 606-620.[27]
  • Helen Freedhoff, J. Van Kranendonk (1967). Theory of coherent resonant absorption and emission at infrared and optical frequencies. Can. J. Physics, 45(5): 1833-1859.[28]
  • Helen S. Freedhoff (1979). Collective atomic effects in resonance fluorescence: Dipole-dipole interaction. Phys. Rev. A 19, 1132.[29]
  • Helen S. Freedhoff (1982). Collective atomic effects in resonance fluorescence: The "scaling factor". Phys. Rev. A 26, 684.[30]
  • Helen Freedhoff, Zhidang Chen (1990). Resonance fluorescence of a two-level atom in a strong bichromatic field. Phys. Rev. A 41, 6013.[31]
  • Tran Quang, Helen Freedhoff (1993). Index of refraction of a system of strongly driven two-level atoms. Phys. Rev. A 48, 3216.[32]
  • Helen Freedhoff (2004). Evolution in time of an N-atom system. I. A physical basis set for the projection of the master equation. Physical Review A. 69 (1).[33]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Freedhoff, Yoni. "Remembering My Mother (And Why I Won't Be Around As Much For a While)". www.weightymatters.ca. Retrieved 17 June 2017.
  2. ^ a b "Freedhoff (nee Goodman)". Globe and Mail (Legacy.com archive). 12 June 2017.
  3. ^ a b c Bimman, Abigail (30 August 2007). "50-year reunion for Harbord Collegiate grads". The Canadian Jewish News. Retrieved 17 June 2017.
  4. ^ Rossiter, Margaret W. (1995). Women Scientists in America: Before Affirmative Action, 1940- 1972. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press.
  5. ^ a b c d e Prentice, Alison (2006). "A Blackboard in Her Kitchen: Women and Physics at the University of Toronto" (PDF). Scientia Canadensis. 292: 17–44. Retrieved 17 June 2017.
  6. ^ a b c d e f g Heap, Ruby; Millar, Wyn; Smyth, Elizabeth M (2005). Learning to practise: professional education in historical and contemporary perspective. Ottawa: University of Ottawa Press. ISBN 978-0776606057. OCLC 243568253.
  7. ^ "H.E. Johns". cns-snc.ca. Canadian Nuclear Society. Retrieved 17 June 2017.
  8. ^ "In memoriam: Jan Van Kranendonk — Department of Physics". www.physics.utoronto.ca. University of Toronto. Archived from the original on 11 August 2017. Retrieved 17 June 2017.
  9. ^ a b Freedhoff, Helen (Winter 2003). "Gerhard Herzberg: An Illustrious Life in Science by Boris Stoicheff (review)". University of Toronto Quarterly. 73 (1): 305–307. Retrieved 17 June 2017.
  10. ^ Freedhoff, Helen Sarah (1965). Theory of dipole-dipole interaction in coherent radiation processes. Toronto: University of Toronto. Retrieved 17 June 2017.
  11. ^ a b Freedhoff, Helen S. (1967). "Molecular features in the spectra of atoms trapped in inert gas matrices". Proceedings of the Physical Society. 92 (2): 505–510. Bibcode:1967PPS....92..505F. doi:10.1088/0370-1328/92/2/328. ISSN 0370-1328.
  12. ^ "Canadian physisicts" (PDF). Physics in Canada. 23 (4): 43. Autumn 1967. Retrieved 17 June 2017.
  13. ^ a b "Alumni Profiles - Rotman Commerce". Rotman Commerce. University of Toronto. Archived from the original on 1 July 2017. Retrieved 17 June 2017.
  14. ^ "Canadian physicists" (PDF). Physics in Canada. 42 (1): 33. January 1986. Retrieved 17 June 2017.
  15. ^ Freedhoff, H. S. (1987). "Cooperative spontaneous emission by a fully inverted array of N atoms: small-sample limit". Journal of Physics B: Atomic and Molecular Physics. 20 (2): 285–293. Bibcode:1987JPhB...20..285F. doi:10.1088/0022-3700/20/2/012. ISSN 0022-3700.
  16. ^ "Priorities for future hiring". www.math.yorku.ca. York University. Retrieved 17 June 2017.
  17. ^ "Freedhoff, HS: Query Results from the Physics Database". Harvard University. Retrieved 17 June 2017.
  18. ^ "Faculty Members - Freedhoff". www.physics.yorku.ca. York University. Retrieved 17 June 2017.[permanent dead link]
  19. ^ Rudolph, T (1998). Dressing an atom in a field of many colors (PDF). Toronto: York University. Retrieved 17 June 2017.
  20. ^ "Home - Professor Terence Rudolph". www.imperial.ac.uk. Imperial College. Retrieved 17 June 2017.
  21. ^ Samuel Reich, Eugenie (17 November 2011). "Quantum theorem shakes foundations". Nature. doi:10.1038/nature.2011.9392. Retrieved 17 June 2017.
  22. ^ Ryan, Greg (3 June 2013). "Searching for the Man Behind the Cat". brooklynrail.org. No. June. Retrieved 17 June 2017.
  23. ^ Freedhoff, Yoni. "Remembering Helen Freedhoff (1940-2017)". YouTube. Retrieved 17 June 2017.
  24. ^ Freedhoff, Michal Ilana (1995). Quantum Confinement Effects on Semiconductor Nanocrystals: Direct, Direct Forbidden and Indirect Gap Materials. Rochester, NY: University of Rochester. Retrieved 17 June 2017.
  25. ^ a b "About the Assistant Administrator of the Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention (OCSPP) Michal Ilana Freedhoff". epa.gov. US Environmental Protection Agency. Retrieved 10 June 2022.
  26. ^ "Yoni Freedhoff". uniweb.uottawa.ca. University of Ottawa. Retrieved 17 June 2017.
  27. ^ Bruce, W. R.; Pearson, M. L.; Freedhoff, Helen S. (August 1963). "The Linear Energy Transfer Distributions Resulting from Primary and Scattered X-Rays and Gamma Rays with Primary HVL's from 1.25 mm Cu to 11 mm Pb". Radiation Research. 19 (4): 606. Bibcode:1963RadR...19..606B. doi:10.2307/3571481. JSTOR 3571481.
  28. ^ Freedhoff, Helen; Kranendonk, J. Van (May 1967). "Theory of Coherent Resonant Absorption and Emission at Infrared and Optical Frequencies". Canadian Journal of Physics. 45 (5): 1833–1859. Bibcode:1967CaJPh..45.1833F. doi:10.1139/p67-142.
  29. ^ Freedhoff, Helen S. (1 March 1979). "Collective atomic effects in resonance fluorescence: Dipole-dipole interaction". Physical Review A. 19 (3): 1132–1139. Bibcode:1979PhRvA..19.1132F. doi:10.1103/PhysRevA.19.1132.
  30. ^ Freedhoff, Helen S. (1 July 1982). "Collective atomic effects in resonance fluorescence: The "scaling factor"". Physical Review A. 26 (1): 684–688. Bibcode:1982PhRvA..26..684F. doi:10.1103/PhysRevA.26.684.
  31. ^ Freedhoff, Helen; Chen, Zhidang (1 June 1990). "Resonance fluorescence of a two-level atom in a strong bichromatic field". Physical Review A. 41 (11): 6013–6022. Bibcode:1990PhRvA..41.6013F. doi:10.1103/PhysRevA.41.6013. PMID 9903004.
  32. ^ Quang, Tran; Freedhoff, Helen (1 October 1993). "Index of refraction of a system of strongly driven two-level atoms". Physical Review A. 48 (4): 3216–3218. Bibcode:1993PhRvA..48.3216Q. doi:10.1103/PhysRevA.48.3216. PMID 9909976.
  33. ^ Freedhoff, Helen (23 January 2004). "Evolution in time of an N-atom system. I. A physical basis set for the projection of the master equation". Physical Review A. 69 (1): 013814. Bibcode:2004PhRvA..69a3814F. doi:10.1103/PhysRevA.69.013814.
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