Women Take the Lead: A Physics Laboratory Under the Dictatorship in Portugal, 1940s–1960s

doi:10.1017/9781009535816.014

12 - Women Take the Lead: A Physics Laboratory Under the Dictatorship in Portugal, 1940s–1960s

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 02 July 2025

Ana Simões and

Maria Paula Diogo

Edited by

Patrick Charbonneau ,

Michelle Frank ,

Margriet van der Heijden and

Daniela Monaldi

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Patrick Charbonneau: Affiliation:
Duke University, North Carolina
Margriet van der Heijden: Affiliation:
Eindhoven University of Technology
Daniela Monaldi: Affiliation:
York University, Toronto

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Summary

This chapter examines the contributions to quantum physics made by Lídia Salgueiro (1917–2009) and a team of women researchers at the Laboratory of Physics of the University of Lisbon. Between 1929 and 1947, the Lisbon laboratory rose to prominence as a successful research school in atomic and nuclear physics. The 1947 political purge by the dictatorial regime of the Estado Novo, however, led to a drastic reorganization, including the ousting of one of its leaders, Manuel Valadares. The right-wing physicist Julio Palacios was then appointed director. We here analyze how these institutional changes impacted Salgueiro’s agency. While Palacios opted for a new research agenda on electrochemistry, Salgueiro and women researchers gathered around her took responsibility for continuing research along the lines previously set up by Valadares. This group of women successfully extended their research into quantum physics to the study of radiation emitted at the atomic and nuclear levels, with a particular emphasis on X-ray spectroscopy. They asserted themselves as a relevant group within the Portuguese emerging research community in the field, participating in the many avenues asserting experimental atomic and nuclear physics on a global scale.

Keywords

Portuguese women scientists atomic and nuclear physics Lídia Salgueiro Estado Novo laboratory research group X-ray spectroscopy

Information

Type: Chapter
Information: Women in the History of Quantum Physics
Beyond <i>Knabenphysik</i>
, pp. 337 - 360

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009535816.014 [Opens in a new window]

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Print publication year: 2025

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