Millie Dresselhaus: Our science celebrity
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Millie Dresselhaus: Our science celebrity By Aditi Risbud
R
isk-taker. Trailblazer. Maverick. These are adjectives often used to describe celebrities and politicians, but rarely attributed to scientists. However, in the case of Mildred Dresselhaus, who died earlier in 2017 at age 86, these superlatives were spot-on. Dresselhaus, known as the “queen of carbon,” was a pioneer in the field of nanoscience. She carried out a series of experiments that led to a fundamental understanding of the electronic structure of semi-metals, especially graphite, along with carbon nanotubes and graphene. A Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) professor emerita of physics and of electrical engineering and computer science, she was also well known for being the first to exploit the thermoelectric effect at the nanoscale, efficiently harvesting energy from the temperature differences in materials that conduct electricity. The co-author of eight books and some 1700 papers, she supervised more than 60 doctoral students in her 50 years on the MIT faculty. To those in the materials science and engineering community, she was a prolific and innovative
scientist, a well-loved mentor, and a role model to hundreds of women (and men) in science and engineering. “Professor Dresselhaus embodied what a scientist should be: bold, pioneering, kind, and dedicated to making the world a better place,” says Jennifer Dionne, an associate professor of materials science and engineering at Stanford University and 2017 MRS Outstanding Young Investigator Award recipient. “She was a huge inspiration for me, and I hope we all can help carry on her legacy for years to come.” Alongside Dresselhaus’s outstanding research accomplishments was her long-standing commitment to promoting gender equity in science and engineering. In 1971, she and a colleague organized the first Women’s Forum at MIT to discuss the roles of women in science and engineering. She received a Carnegie Foundation grant in 1973 to support her efforts to encourage women to enter traditionally male-dominated fields of science and engineering. For a number of years, she led an MIT seminar in engineering for first-year female students designed to build their confidence.
A still image from General Electric’s commercial “What If Millie Dresselhaus, Female Scientist, Was Treated Like A Celebrity,” featuring a mock fashion magazine with Millie Dresselhaus on the cover. Photo credit: GE.
In 2015, Dresselhaus delivered the keynote address at a three-day workshop for female graduate students and postdocs considering careers in academic research, “Rising Stars.” Her remarks, on the importance of persistence, described her interactions with Nobel laureate Enrico Fermi during morning walks to the laboratory at The University of Chicago. Previously, she said during a 2012 interview with the Kavli Foundation, “What I learned from him [Fermi] was the importance of having a very broad understanding of science, so you can take advantage of new science opportunities so that you can really serve
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