Isabella Helen Karle (née Lugoski) was born on December 2, 1921, in Detroit, MI, USA. She studied chemistry at the University of Michigan, where she received her B.S. in 1941, her M.S. in 1942, and her Ph.D. in 1944. On the path to her Ph.D., Karle overcame several obstacles, from her high school teacher’s opinion that “chemistry is not a proper field for girls” to the fact that posts for teaching assistants were only given to male postgraduate students in chemistry.
During grad school, Isabella met Jerome Karle, who she married in 1942. The couple worked together throughout their career, Jerome focusing on the theory and Isabelle on the practical aspects of their research. After graduating, the Karles worked on the Manhattan Project in Chicago for a short time. They developed techniques to extract plutonium chloride from mixtures containing plutonium oxide. Then, the couple joined the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL), Washington, D.C., where they remained until their joint retirement in 2009.
Jerome Karle and Herbert Aaron Hauptman developed the theoretical foundation for the direct determination of crystal structures from X-ray diffraction data. Isabella translated their work into practical procedures. The two men received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for this work in 1985. Many researchers in the crystallography community, including Jerome Karle, believed that Isabella should also have been honored.
Among other honors, Karle received the Society of Women Engineers Achievement Award in 1968, the Hillebrand Award from the American Chemical Society (ACS) in 1969, the Federal Woman’s Award from the U.S. Civil Service Commission in 1973, the Gregori Aminoff Prize from the Royal Swedish Academy of Science in 1988, and the Bower Award from the Franklin Institute in 1993. Isabelle Karle died on October 3, 2017, in Arlington, VA, USA.
Isabella Karle is the answer to Guess the Chemist (120).
Sources
- Notable Women in the Physical Sciences: A Biographical Dictionary,
B. F. Shearer, B. S. Shearer,
Greenwood Press 1997.
ISBN: 0313293031 - Obituary: Isabella L. Karle, chemist who helped reveal structure of molecules, dies at 95,
E. Langer,
The Washington Post, October 20, 2017.
Selected Publications
- Internal Motion and Molecular Structure Studies by Electron Diffraction,
I. Karle, J. Karle,
J. Chem. Phys. 1949, 17, 1052–1058.
https://doi.org/10.1063/1.1747111 - An application of the symbolic addition method to the structure of L-arginine dihydrate,
I. L. Karle, J. Karle,
Acta Crystallogr. 1964, 17, 835–841.
https://doi.org/10.1107/S0365110X64002250 - The crystal and molecular structure of anemonin, C10H8O4,
I. Karle, J. Karle,
Acta Crystallogr. 1966, 20, 555–559.
https://doi.org/10.1107/S0365110X66001233 - The symbolic addition procedure for phase determination for centrosymmetric and non-centrosymmetric crystals,
J. Karle, I. Karle,
Acta Crystallogr. 1966, 21, 849–859.
https://doi.org/10.1107/S0365110X66004079 - The crystal structure of the alkaloid reserpine, C33H40N2O9,
I. Karle, J. Karle,
Acta Crystallogr. Sect. B 1968, 24, 81–91.
https://doi.org/10.1107/S0567740868001731 - The crystal structure of digitoxigenin, C23H34O4,
I. Karle, J. Karle,
Acta Crystallogr. Sect. B 1969, 25, 434–442.
https://doi.org/10.1107/S0567740869002391
Also of Interest
- 100th Birthday: Jerome Karle,
ChemistryViews 2018.
Chemistry Nobel Laureate co-developed the theoretical basis for solving crystal structures - 100th Birthday: Herbert A. Hauptman,
ChemistryViews 2017.
Chemistry Nobel Laureate laid the mathematical groundwork for solving crystal structures
