Gertrude Falk
Biography: Link to "Yiddish".
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==Biography== |
==Biography== |
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Gertrude Falk was born in [[Brooklyn]], [[New York City]] on August 24, 1925.{{cite encyclopedia|title=Gertrude Falk|url=https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/K3099033640/GPS?u=wikipedia&sid=GPS&xid=6c5e49f8|encyclopedia=American Men & Women of Science: A Biographical Directory of Today's Leaders in Physical, Biological, and Related Sciences|date=August 1, 2008|access-date=August 2, 2019|via=Gale In Context: Biography|url-access=subscription}}{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/theguardian/2008/apr/02/1|title=Gertrude Falk|last=Joffe|first=Lawrence|date=April 1, 2008|work=[[The Guardian]]|access-date=August 2, 2019|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190619150157/https://www.theguardian.com/theguardian/2008/apr/02/1|archive-date=June 19, 2019}} Her mother was a [[Litvaks|Lithuanian Jew]] who entered the United States at the age of 16, only able to speak Yiddish, and her immigrant father operated a furrier shop during the [[Great Depression in the United States|Great Depression]].{{cite news|url=https://www.thetimes.com/travel/destinations/uk-travel/england/london-travel/professor-gertrude-falk-b2smrfn3dhh|title=Professor Gertrude Falk; Cellular biophysicist who pioneered exploratory research into retina photoreceptor cells and campaigned for the NHS|date=April 10, 2008|work=[[The Times]]|access-date=August 2, 2019|url-status=live|url-access=subscription|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190802053859/https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/professor-gertrude-falk-b2smrfn3dhh|archive-date=August 2, 2019}} Falk had one sister. She worked as a guard at her father's shop, and helped him to conceal non-unionized workers in the cupboard when inspectors visited the shop. Falk expressed a desire to enroll at university though her traditionalist parents objected to this. Nevertheless, she became the first member of her family to attend university by enrolling at [[Antioch College]], [[Ohio]], one of the few universities not to bar black students and impose quotas on Jews. Falk graduated from the college with a [[Bachelor of Science]] in 1947. She went on to study at [[University of Chicago]], undertaking postgraduate research on [[diuresis]] (the increase in production of urine by a rat's kidneys), earning her a [[Doctor of Philosophy]] (PhD). |
Gertrude Falk was born in [[Brooklyn]], [[New York City]] on August 24, 1925.{{cite encyclopedia|title=Gertrude Falk|url=https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/K3099033640/GPS?u=wikipedia&sid=GPS&xid=6c5e49f8|encyclopedia=American Men & Women of Science: A Biographical Directory of Today's Leaders in Physical, Biological, and Related Sciences|date=August 1, 2008|access-date=August 2, 2019|via=Gale In Context: Biography|url-access=subscription}}{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/theguardian/2008/apr/02/1|title=Gertrude Falk|last=Joffe|first=Lawrence|date=April 1, 2008|work=[[The Guardian]]|access-date=August 2, 2019|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190619150157/https://www.theguardian.com/theguardian/2008/apr/02/1|archive-date=June 19, 2019}} Her mother was a [[Litvaks|Lithuanian Jew]] who entered the United States at the age of 16, only able to speak [[Yiddish]], and her immigrant father operated a furrier shop during the [[Great Depression in the United States|Great Depression]].{{cite news|url=https://www.thetimes.com/travel/destinations/uk-travel/england/london-travel/professor-gertrude-falk-b2smrfn3dhh|title=Professor Gertrude Falk; Cellular biophysicist who pioneered exploratory research into retina photoreceptor cells and campaigned for the NHS|date=April 10, 2008|work=[[The Times]]|access-date=August 2, 2019|url-status=live|url-access=subscription|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190802053859/https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/professor-gertrude-falk-b2smrfn3dhh|archive-date=August 2, 2019}} Falk had one sister. She worked as a guard at her father's shop, and helped him to conceal non-unionized workers in the cupboard when inspectors visited the shop. Falk expressed a desire to enroll at university though her traditionalist parents objected to this. Nevertheless, she became the first member of her family to attend university by enrolling at [[Antioch College]], [[Ohio]], one of the few universities not to bar black students and impose quotas on Jews. Falk graduated from the college with a [[Bachelor of Science]] in 1947. She went on to study at [[University of Chicago]], undertaking postgraduate research on [[diuresis]] (the increase in production of urine by a rat's kidneys), earning her a [[Doctor of Philosophy]] (PhD). |
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Falk began her academic career at the [[University of Illinois College of Medicine]], where she worked from 1952 to 1953, before moving to the University of Chicago as an instructor in natural science between 1953 and 1954. She moved to the [[University of Washington]], Seattle in 1954, working as an instructor, and later as assistant to the professor of paracetamol. Falk left the University of Washington in 1961. That year, she flew to England as a [[Guggenheim Fellowship|Guggenheim Fellow]] to join the biophysics department of [[UCL Medical School]], becoming the first woman to hold a professional chair at the department. There, Falk worked on the high capacitance of human muscle with a colleague, neuroscientist [[Paul Fatt]]. The two utilized two electrode recording techniques,{{cite journal|last1=Ashmore|first1=Jonathan|last2=Bindman|first2=Lynn|last3=Gardner-Medwin|first3=Tony|last4=Page|first4=Sally|date=Summer 2008|title=Physiological Society obituary: Gertrude Falk 1925–2008|url=http://www.dcscience.net/Gertrude-Falk-obituary-PhysSoclb.pdf|url-status=live|journal=Physiology News|issue=71|pages=57–58|access-date=August 2, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160404004155/http://www.dcscience.net/Gertrude-Falk-obituary-PhysSoclb.pdf|archive-date=April 4, 2016}} requiring a comprehensive of real biophysics that explained how the [[retina]] converts light into electrical signals. A conclusion was reached the internal [[Biological membrane|membranes]] accounted for the same high capacitance. |
Falk began her academic career at the [[University of Illinois College of Medicine]], where she worked from 1952 to 1953, before moving to the University of Chicago as an instructor in natural science between 1953 and 1954. She moved to the [[University of Washington]], Seattle in 1954, working as an instructor, and later as assistant to the professor of paracetamol. Falk left the University of Washington in 1961. That year, she flew to England as a [[Guggenheim Fellowship|Guggenheim Fellow]] to join the biophysics department of [[UCL Medical School]], becoming the first woman to hold a professional chair at the department. There, Falk worked on the high capacitance of human muscle with a colleague, neuroscientist [[Paul Fatt]]. The two utilized two electrode recording techniques,{{cite journal|last1=Ashmore|first1=Jonathan|last2=Bindman|first2=Lynn|last3=Gardner-Medwin|first3=Tony|last4=Page|first4=Sally|date=Summer 2008|title=Physiological Society obituary: Gertrude Falk 1925–2008|url=http://www.dcscience.net/Gertrude-Falk-obituary-PhysSoclb.pdf|url-status=live|journal=Physiology News|issue=71|pages=57–58|access-date=August 2, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160404004155/http://www.dcscience.net/Gertrude-Falk-obituary-PhysSoclb.pdf|archive-date=April 4, 2016}} requiring a comprehensive of real biophysics that explained how the [[retina]] converts light into electrical signals. A conclusion was reached the internal [[Biological membrane|membranes]] accounted for the same high capacitance. |
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