Hedwig Kohn

Hedwig Kohn was born in Breslau, Germany (now Wrocław, Poland) into a Jewish family, making her origins as undeniably Jewish as a bagel with schmear. While her personal religious observance isn't heavily documented, her Jewish ancestry was certainly not a minor detail in her life, especially considering the era she lived through.

Kohn earned her doctorate in physics in 1913, and in 1930, she achieved Habilitation, becoming one of only three women in Germany to reach such an academic pinnacle before World War II. Her work focused on quantitative intensity measurements of light, a field so specialized it practically required its own lexicon. Her groundbreaking career, however, was violently interrupted by the Nazi regime.

Fleeing Germany in 1940, Kohn eventually found a new home and career in the United States, teaching at various colleges including the Woman's College of the University of North Carolina (now UNC Greensboro) and Wellesley College. She continued her research, even working at Duke University into her seventies, proving that some scientists, like fine wine, only get better with age.