Jean Laby

Jean Elizabeth Laby (4 November 1915 - 31 May 2008) was an early Australian atmospheric physicist.

Biography

Laby was educated at the Melbourne Church of England Girls' Grammar School and then The University of Melbourne. She gained a BSc in 1939, MSc in 1951, and PhD in 1959.[1] She was the first woman to be awarded a PhD in physics from The University of Melbourne.[2]

Laby was employed as a lecturer at the University of Melbourne and between 1961 and 1980 she was also a senior lecturer at the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) Academy at Point Cook, Victoria. Here she worked on radar meteorology, balloon-borne cameras and cosmic radiation measurements.[3] She was also involved in the Climatic Impact Assessment Program between 1972 and 1980 and collaborated with the University of Wyoming measuring atmospheric aerosols, ozone and water vapour in the stratosphere.[4]

Laby was interviewed by the Australian Academy of Science for its Outstanding Women in Science program in 2000,[5] and inducted to the Victorian Honour Roll of Women in 2009.[6] Her papers are held by the University of Melbourne archives and document the role of women in science and atmospheric research.[7]

Research

  • Jean E. Laby, The thermal conductivity of water and some measurements with other liquids (MSc Thesis, Department of Science, The University of Melbourne, 1951)
  • Jean E. Laby, Atmospheric winds and cosmic rays at balloon altitudes (PhD Thesis, Department of Physics, The University of Melbourne, 1959)

References

  1. ↑ Walker, Rosanne. "Laby, Jean (1915 - 2008)". Encyclopaedia of Australian Science.
  2. ↑ Flesch, Juliet (2015). "40 Years 40 Women: Biographies of University of Melbourne Women, Published to Commemorate the 40th Anniversary of the International Year of Women".
  3. ↑ "BALLOONS OVER MELBOURNE". Age (Melbourne, Vic. : 1854 - 1954). 1954-10-28. p. 2. Retrieved 2017-08-25.
  4. ↑ "Dr Jean Laby (1915-2008), physicist | Australian Academy of Science". www.science.org.au. Retrieved 2017-08-25.
  5. ↑ Dr Jean Laby in interview with Ms Nessy Allen, Melbourne, Australia 24 August, 2000, [Canberra] : Australia Academy of Science, 2000, retrieved 2017-08-25
  6. ↑ "Victorian Honour Roll of Women" (PDF). Women and Royal Commission Branch. March 2016. Retrieved 25 August 2017.
  7. ↑ "Papers of atmospheric physicist Dr Jean Laby now available : Museums and Collections". Museums and Collections. 2017-06-27. Retrieved 2018-08-03.
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