Jane Blankenship won high science honors while at Oak Ridge High School before graduating in June 1958 from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville with a B.S. in chemistry. She worked summers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, where her father Dr. Forest F. Blankenship was a physical chemist, and then married Carl H. Gibson, a chemical engineer, and became employed as a spectroscopist for Lockheed Aircraft in Palo Alto, California.[2]
Jane Blankenship | |
|---|---|
| Born | |
| Other names | Jane Carruth Blankenship Jane C. Blankenship |
| Alma mater | University of Tennessee, Knoxville Stanford University |
| Spouse | Carl H. Gibson |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Spectroscopy |
| Institutions | Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Lockheed Aircraft |
| Thesis | Rotational Analysis of the 0-0 Band of the B2 Σ U -> X2 Σ g Transition of N+ 2 from Shock Tube Spectra.[1] (1962) |
Biography
editJane Carruth Blankenship and twin sister Elizabeth Ann Blankenship were born on 20 June 1936 in Lamar, Texas to Forrest Farle Blankenship and Margaret Berry Burke.[3][4]
According to the 1940 U.S. Census, the Blankenship family resided in Lamar, Texas. Forest F. Blankenship, head of household, age 26, worked as a teacher in a public school and reported an annual income of $1800. Margrett Blankenship, her mother, age 29, did not report income or employment. Jane C. Blankenship, age 3, had a twin sister, Elizabeth A. Blankenship, age 3.[5]
Jane Blankenship married Carl Gibson on 28 May 1958 at Roane County, Tennessee.[6]
National attention
editIn 1961, a news story was written regarding “sex desegregation” in the sciences and a photograph of her was utilized to illustrate the critical significance of inspiring women to pursue careers in science.[7][8]
As of 2008 Professor David Kaiser of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology began offering a graduate level course titled “Cold War Science” that discussed the role women featured during the Cold War and included Jane Blankenship Gibson as an example.[9]
Thesis
editSelected publications
edit- Gibson, J. B., Goland, A. N., Milgram, M., & Vineyard, G. (1960). Dynamics of radiation damage. Physical Review, 120(4), 1229.
- Gibson, J. B., Goland, A. N., & Milgram, M. (1960). The Nature of Radiation Damage in FCC Metals 265 GH Vineyard. Phys. Rev. O, 12, 1229.
- Gibson, J. A. B. (1961). Liquid Scintillation Counting of Tritium in Urine. Physics in medicine and biology, 6(1), 55.
- Gibson, J. A. B. (1961). Detection of Tritium with a Film Dosemeter. Physics in Medicine and Biology, 6(2), 283.
- Gibson, Jane Blankenship. (1962). Rotational Analysis of the 0-0 Band of the B2 [sigma Subscript U]-> X2 [sigma] g Transition of N+ 2 from Shock Tube Spectra. Physical Sciences Program, Stanford University.
- Gibson, J. A. B. (1962). Measurement of the Gamma Radiation Background (No. AERE-R-4137). United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority. Research Group. Atomic Energy Research Establishment, Harwell, Berks, England.
- Gibson, J. A. B. (1962). Gamma radiation background measurements - instrument selection. 1962.
References
edit- ^ a b Gibson, Jane Blankenship. (1962). Rotational Analysis of the 0-0 Band of the B2 Σ U -> X2 Σ g Transition of N+ 2 from Shock Tube Spectra. Physical Sciences Program, Stanford University.
- ^ "Jane Blankenship Gibson". Smithsonian Institution Archives. Smithsonian Institution. Retrieved 16 July 2013.
- ^ Texas Birth Index. (1903-1997). FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:VDDX-ZGX : accessed 8 August 2015), Jane Carruth Blankenship, 20 Jun 1936; from "Texas Birth Index, 1903-1997," database and images, Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com : 2005); citing Texas Department of State Health Services.
- ^ Texas Birth Index. (1903-1997). FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:V87J-FW8 : accessed 8 August 2015), Elizabeth Ann Blankenship, 20 Jun 1936; from "Texas Birth Index, 1903-1997," database and images, Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com : 2005); citing Texas Department of State Health Services.
- ^ United States Census. (1940). Database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:KW2X-N3J : accessed 8 August 2015), Forest F Blankenship, Ward 1, Paris, Justice Precinct 1, Lamar, Texas, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) 139-1, sheet 11B, family 237, NARA digital publication T627 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 2012), roll 4089.
- ^ Tennessee, State Marriage Index. (1780-2002). FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:VN47-HQ7 : accessed 8 August 2015), Carl Gibson and Jane Blankenship, 28 May 1958; from "Tennessee State Marriages, 1780-2002," database and images, Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com : 2008); citing p. 356, Roane, Tennessee, United States, Tennessee State Library and Archives, Nashville, Tennessee.
- ^ Davis, W. (1964). Need Sex Desegregation. The Science News-Letter, 22-22.
- ^ Ewino, Ann. (16 December 1961). Place for Women in Science. Alton Evening Telegraph. Alton, Illinois. p. 17.
- ^ Kaiser, David. (Fall 2008). STS.436 Cold War Science. (Massachusetts Institute of Technology: MIT OpenCourseWare), http://ocw.mit.edu (Accessed 8 August 2015). License: Creative Commons BY-NC-SA.