Person

Bear, Isabel (Joy) (1927 - 2021)

AM FRACI

Born
4 January 1927
Camperdown, Victoria, Australia
Died
8 April 2021
Barongarook Gardens, Colac, Victoria, Australia
Occupation
Mineral chemist
Alternative Names
  • Bear, Joy (Also known as)

Summary

Joy Bear was a prominent researcher in the field of solid-state chemistry and metallurgy. She joined the Council for Scientific Research as a junior laboratory Assistant in 1944, was the first woman in CSIRO to be promoted to the research staff, and intimately retired as Senior Principal Research Scientist in 1992. This was a triumph over entrenched workplace practices that neither promoted women scientists nor recognised their research talents. In her research she discovered a number of previously unknown metastable zirconium sulfate hydrates. In particular she is noted for her chemical characterisation (in collaboration with Richard Thomas) and naming of "petrichor", a volatile oil that is associated with the smell of rain. Bear received a number of awards recognising her research: she was the first woman to receive the Leighton memorial Medal from the Royal Australian Chemical Institute. Her book Aluminia to zirconia: the history of the CSIRO Division of Mineral Chemistry, co-authored with T. Beigler and T. R. Scott, was published in 2005.

Details

Chronology

1944 - 1950
Career position - Junior Laboratory Assistant, Minerals Utilization Section, CSIR(O) Division of Industrial Chemistry
1950
Education - Associate Diploma of Applied Science, Melbourne Technical College
1950
Education - Associate Diploma of Applied Chemistry, Melbourne Technical College
1950 - 1951
Career position - Experimental Scientist at the Atomic Energy Research Establishment, Harwell, United Kingdom
1951 - 1953
Career position - Research Assistant at University of Birmingham, United Kingdom
1953 - 1958
Career position - Experimental Officer, Minerals Utilization Section, CSIRO Division of Industrial Chemistry
1958 - 1959
Career position - Experimental Officer, CSIRO Minerals Utilization Section
1959 - 1967
Career position - Experimental Officer, CSIRO Division of Mineral Chemistry
1967 - 1972
Career position - Senior Research Scientist, CSIRO Division of Mineral Chemistry
1970
Education - Diploma of Applied Chemistry, Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology
1972 - 1979
Career position - Principal Research Scientist, CSIRO Division of Mineral Chemistry
1974 - 2021
Award - Fellow, Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy
1978
Education - Senior Doctoral Degree in Applied Science, Victoria Institute of Colleges
1979 - 1988
Career position - Senior Principal Research Scientist, CSIRO Division of Mineral Chemistry
1986
Award - Member of the Order of Australia (AM) in recognition of service to science, particularly in the field of mine chemistry
1986 - 2021
Award - Fellow, Royal Australian Chemical Institute
1988
Award - Leighton Memorial Medal received from the Royal Australian Chemical Institute
1988 - 1992
Career position - Senior Principal Research Scientist, CSIRO Division of Mineral Products
1992
Life event - Retired
1992 - 1997
Career position - Honorary Fellow, CSIRO Division of Mineral Products (later Minerals Division)
2001
Career event - Alumina to Zirconia (with Tom Beigler and Tom Scott) published by CSIRO
2005
Award - Inducted into the Victorian Honour Roll of Women

Published resources

Encyclopedia of Australian Science and Innovation Exhibitions

  • McCarthy, Gavan; Morgan, Helen; Smith, Ailie; van den Bosch, Alan, Where are the Women in Australian Science?, Exhibition of the Encyclopedia of Australian Science and Innovation, First published 2003 with lists updated regulary edn, Australian Science and Technology Heritage Centre, Melbourne, Victoria, 2003, https://eoas.info/exhibitions/wisa/wisa.html. Details

Articles

Books

Journal Articles

Resources

Resource Sections

See also

  • Alvarez, Amaya, 'Writing about Women in the History of Science: a Study of Women at the CSIR 1930-1950', MA thesis, University of Melbourne, 1993. Details
  • Herd, Margaret ed., Who's who in Australia 2002 (Melbourne: Crown Content, 2001), 2020 pp. Details

Ailie Smith

EOAS ID: biogs/P004169b.htm

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