Maia Weinstock, an American science writer and the deputy editor at MIT news, tells the remarkable story of the 'Queen of Carbon' Mildred (Millie) Dresselhaus.
Young Millie Dresselhaus
Millie Dresselhaus holding a LEGO figure of herself
During Millie's long career, she uncovered some of carbon's basic properties, paved the way for a future of carbon-based technologies, was a pioneer in research on nanostructures called fullerenes (buckyballs), and predicted the existence of carbon nanotubes - sheets of carbon atoms rolled up into tiny cylinders that can conduct electricity. (Nanotubes are 10,000 times thinner than a human hair.)
Nanotubes are 10,000 times thinner than a human hair.
Buckyballs are similar in diameter to nanotubes
Weinstock writes, "In all, Millie authored or co-authored an astounding 1,700 research articles and 8 books, largely relating to carbon and it's fundamental properties. But she was far more than a brilliant researcher. Millie was also a tireless educator and role model.....whom countless women in science and engineering looked up to." Among myriad other accolades, Millie was the first female MIT Institute Professor, the first woman to win a National Medal of Science in the category of engineering, and the first solo recipient of the prestigious Kavli Prize, given biennially in the disciplines of astrophysics, nanoscience, and neuroscience. Millie also received the National Medal of Science from President George H.W. Bush, served as director of the Department of Energy's Office of Science under President Bill Clinton, and was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Barack Obama.
Millie Dresselhaus receiving the Kavli Prize from King Harald of Norway
;Millie Dresselhaus receiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Barack Obama
Moreover, Millie rose to eminence from a childhood that started in extreme poverty, and she had to battle male chauvinists and society's resistance to women scientists along the way.
Millie Spiewak was born in 1930 in Brooklyn and grew up in the Bronx, where her immigrant Jewish parents struggled to make ends meet. Little Millie's first calling was music, and she won a scholarship for violin lessons at the Greenwich House Music School in Manhattan.
Greenwich House Music School
In addition to attending grade school and music school, Millie also had to work, and her first paying job began at the age of eight, when she tutored a special needs student for fifty cents a week for 15 to 20 hours of lessons. Later, Millie became an administrative helper in her junior high school and assisted with manufacturing assembly work her mother brought home to augment the family income. Millie was also employed as a child laborer in a zipper factory during her summers off from school and observed that "she used to hide when inspectors came around because she was under the legal minimum age for workers in New York City."
A perk of attending Greenwich House Music School was free tickets to concerts and theatrical performances, and Millie attended as many as she could. On top of that, young Millie became a film critic for the Greenwich House Music School newsletter, which gave her free access to big-name movies. Weinstock notes, "A bright young Millie blossomed into a veritable sponge, soaking up every experience and opportunity that crossed her path."
Millie's interest in science was stoked by books like Microbe Hunters by Paul de Kruif - which extolled fourteen men of science, and a biography of the two-time Nobel-prize winning physicist and chemist Marie Curie. Millie also saved up her tiny allowance to purchase old copies of National Geographic magazine, which "further immersed her young mind in scientific and humanistic thinking."
Physicist and Chemist Marie Curie
Only one New York magnet school accepted girls in the 1940s, and Millie managed to earn a place at the highly competitive Hunter College High School.
Millie supplemented her formal education by exploring the city's art and history museums and sneaking into astronomy shows at the Hayden Planetarium (which charged an entrance fee Millie couldn't afford). In high school, Millie became a REAL entrepreneur by developing a well-paying tutoring operation, for which she was paid $5 per hour ($67 an hour in 2021 dollars). Weinstock observes, "By the time she got to college, Millie had earned enough to not only help her parents with bills but also to become financially independent."
After graduating high school, Millie went on to attend Hunter College, and - at first - had only moderate aspirations. Teachers had told Millie there were only three possible careers for women, teaching, nursing, and secretarial work, and Millie was thinking of a job in secondary education.
Then Millie took an introductory physics course from Rosalyn Sussman Yalow (who later won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine), and the die was cast. Yalow saw whip-smart Millie's potential, and pushed her to pursue science research. Millie later said, "Yalow was the one who was most influential in leading me to attend graduate school and to go to the best schools and to study with the best scholars."
Rosalyn Sussman Yalow
After Hunter College, Millie got a Fulbright Scholarship to England's University of Cambridge, studied at Radcliffe College/Harvard University, and earned a Ph.D. from the University of Chicago - where she studied under Nobel laureate Enrico Fermi. Weinstock writes, "Throughout her career, Millie credited Fermi, whose genius allowed him to excel in both theory and experimentation, with teaching her to think like a physicist."
Enrico Fermi
Fermi and his wife Laura often hosted dinners for students, and this later inspired Millie to "provide her own students with a familial atmosphere at the lab, at group luncheons, and at events at the Dresselhauses' home....where kindred spirits enjoyed one another's company."
Enrico Fermi was a sharp contrast to Millie's Ph.D. advisor at the University of Chicago, Professor Andrew Lawson, who held a deep-seated bias against women in science. Lawson gave Millie no assistance with her research and was unhappy every time Millie got a fellowship or any kind of recognition because he thought it was a waste of resources. Millie later said, "When I sought him out, he essentially told me to get lost." Decades later, when Millie was famous in her field, Lawson "sincerely apologized." (Yeah.....maybe. 😕)
Professor Andrew Lawson
One man at the University of Chicago who was completely different from Lawson was Ph.D. student Gene Dresselhaus, a rising star in theoretical physics. When Gene and Millie met it was kismet, and - besides falling in love with Millie - Gene "provided a flood of encouragement in the absence of a proper advisor." Millie and Gene married and had four children, all while continuing with their stellar careers.
Millie and Gene Dresselhaus
Millie Dresselhaus' parents visit Millie, Gene, and the children
Millie Dresselhaus and her children
Gene was the most supportive helpful husband imaginable, and Weinstock provides an in depth look at the Dresselhauses' family life as well as their employment, research, collaborators, publications, accomplishments, awards, etc. - all of which you can read in the book.
Millie Dresselhaus teaching a class
Millie and Gene Dresselhaus with their long-time collaborator Morinobu Endo
In a nutshell, the Dresselhauses did most of their work at MIT in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where they settled into a two-story, four-bedroom house that would be their home for 55-plus years. Millie and Gene's individual and joint work in carbon science set the stage for technologies that have already changed the world - such as rechargeable lithium ion batteries for your cell phone, and carbon fiber composites that have transformed industries from aviation to athletics. Millie and Gene also laid the groundwork for new science and engineering that are just now revolutionizing technologies of the future, from flexible digital displays to quantum computers.
Millie and Gene Dresselhaus worked together for their entire lives
In addition to Millie's research and teaching, she spent time with young women of MIT, to provide encouragement, advice, and a sounding board for their frustrations, which arose from discrimination in a male chauvinist environment. Weinstock observes, "Millie was destined to support women and other underrepresented students in critical ways for the rest of her career - at MIT and elsewhere." Weinstock provides many examples of Millie's assistance to students who didn't traditionally enter science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields.
On a personal note, Millie had several signature marks: a braided updo, inspired by an Austrian hairstyle, that insured Millie's hair was always neat and out of the way in the lab; Scandinavian style knit sweaters, one of Millie's favorites being a cardinal red with wine and black accents and silver buckles; and Millie's nickname, Queen of Carbon.
Millie Dresselhaus liked Scandinavian-style sweaters
As a creative outlet beyond her academic and service work, Millie enjoyed music, hiking, cooking and entertaining. Millie and Gene regularly opened their home to their associates, and "in addition to music nights, they often invited students, colleagues, and others to fill their abode with laughter, food, and conversation."
Millie Dressehaus enjoyed playing her violin
Millie passed away on February 20, 2017, surrounded by her loved ones. A marker at Millie's grave featuring carbon hexagons now reads: "Cherished Wife, Mother, Grandmother; Physicist & MIT Professor; Queen of Carbon - An improbable life, well shared."
Tribute to Millie Dresselhaus from her collaborator and friend Morinobu Endo
Weinstock's book is a well-researched and well-written overview of the life of a remarkable woman. Highly recommended.
Rating: 4.5 stars
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