Professor Magda Ariel, Technion – Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, passed away on February 20, 2021. She was well-known for her work in instrumental analytical chemistry and electrochemistry. Magda Ariel was a very humble person, and a true pioneer who had to make her way in the then male-dominated Technion.
Magda Ariel was born in Stanisławów, Poland (in today’s Ukraine) on July 21, 1924. She emigrated in 1933 and moved to Haifa. Starting at the age of 17, she took chemistry and physics courses at Technion as a free listener. She later enrolled in chemical engineering courses and graduated in 1947.
In 1949, after teaching chemistry at a high school, she started her graduate studies focusing on analytical methods. In 1953, she was selected for the Foreign Students Science Program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, USA, where she worked on modern instrumental analytical chemistry. Ariel then returned to Technion, where she became a Lecturer in 1955—one year before obtaining her Ph.D. degree. She was promoted to Senior Lecturer in 1961, Associate Professor in 1966, and Full Professor in 1976.
Ariel’s work focused on analytical and electrochemical trace analysis, including analytical flow systems, electroanalysis, flow-through detectors, and flow-injection analysis, among other topics. She served two terms as Dean of the Faculty of Chemistry at Technion.
Selected Publications
- The electrochemistry of bilirubin in dimethylsulfoxide,
C. Slifstein, M. Ariel,
J. Electroanal. Chem. Interf. Electrochem. 1973, 48, 447–463.
https://doi.org/10.1016/S0022-0728(73)80377-8 - The anodic behavior of glassy carbon in acid solution: A spectroelectrochemical study,
D. Laser, M. Ariel,
J. Electroanal. Chem. Interf. Electrochem. 1974, 52, 291–303.
https://doi.org/10.1016/S0022-0728(74)80371-2 - Anodic stripping voltammetry in a flow-through cell with fixed mercury film glassy carbon disc electrodes part II. the differential mode (D.A.S.V.),
J. Wang, M. Ariel,
J. Electroanal. Chem. Interf. Electrochem. 1977, 85, 289–297.
https://doi.org/10.1016/S0022-0728(77)80295-7 - The rotating disc electrode in flowing systems : Part I. an anodic stripping monitoring system for trace metals in natural waters,
J. Wang, M. Ariel,
Anal. Chim. Acta 1978, 99, 89–98.
https://doi.org/10.1016/S0003-2670(01)84500-1 - A flow detector based on square-wave polarography at the dropping mercury electrode,
J. Wang, E. Ouziel, C. Yarnitzky, M. Ariel,
Anal. Chim. Acta 1978, 102, 99–112.
https://doi.org/10.1016/S0003-2670(01)93464-6 - Determination of nitrate with a flow-injection system combining square-wave polarographic detection with on-line deaeration,
M. Noufi, C. Yarnitzky, M. Ariel,
Anal. Chim. Acta 1990, 234, 475–478.
https://doi.org/10.1016/S0003-2670(00)83594-1 - Polarographic maxima revisited,
M. Noufi, C. Yarnitzky, M. Ariel,
Electroanalysis 1996, 8, 836–841.
https://doi.org/10.1002/elan.1140080825
