Biographical entry Bear, Isabel Joy (1927 - )

Summary

Isabel Bear discovered a number of previously unknown metastable zirconium sulfate hydrates while working at the CSIRO Division of Mineral Chemistry in the early 1960s. In 1967 Bear was promoted to the research staff of the division, notably she was the first and only woman to be appointed to research ranks of the Division of Mineral Chemistry. Bear was appointed Member of the Order of Australia, 26 January 1986, for services to science, particularly in the field of mineral chemistry. In 1988 she was the first woman to be awarded the Leighton Medal by the Royal Australian Chemical Institute. Bear co-authored Alumina to Zirconia: The History of the CSIRO Division of Mineral Chemistry. In 2005 Bear was part of a team compiling the history of the CSIRO Division of Chemical Engineering.

Details

Events

1944 - 1950

Career position - Junior Laboratory Assistant in the minerals utilization section of the Division of Industrial Chemistry at CSIR (Council for Scientific and Industrial Research)/CSIRO (Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation)

1950 - 1951

Career position - Experimental Scientist at the Atomic Energy Research Establishment in Harwell, UK

1951 - 1953

Career position - Research Assistant at Birmingham University, UK

1953 - 1959

Career position - Experimental Officer in the Minerals Utilization Section of the Division of Industrial Chemistry at the CSIRO (Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation)

1959 - 1967

Career position - Experimental Officer at the Division of Mineral Chemistry at CSIRO

1967

Career position - Senior Research Scientist at the Division of Mineral Chemistry at CSIRO

1972

Career position - Principal Research Scientist in the Division of Mineral Chemistry at CSIRO

1979 - 1992

Career position - Senior Principal Research Scientist in the Division of Mineral Chemistry at CSIRO

1986

Award - Member of the Order of Australia (AM)

1988

Award - Leighton Memorial Medal received from the Royal Australian Chemical Institute

1992

Life event - Retired

1992 - 1997

Career position - Honorary Fellow of the Division of Minerals, CSIRO

2001

Career position - Alumina to Zirconia (with Tom Biegler and Tom Scott) published by CSIRO

2005

Award - Inducted into the Victorian Honour Roll of Women

Related entries

Published resources

Encyclopedia of Australian Science Exhibitions

• McCarthy, Gavan; Morgan, Helen; Smith, Ailie; van den Bosch, Alan, Where are the Women in Australian Science?, Australian Science and Technology Heritage Centre, 2003, http://www.austehc.unimelb.edu.au/wisa/wisa.html. Details

Books

• Bear, I. J.; Beigler, T; Scott, T. R., Alumina to zirconia: the history of CSIRO Division of Mineral Chemistry, CSIRO Minerals, Clayton, Victoria, 2001, 426 pp. Details

Online Resources

• 'Bear, Isabel Joy (1927-)', Trove, National Library of Australia, 2009, http://nla.gov.au/nla.party-1475847. Details
• O'Neil, 'Isabel Joy Bear: a Biographical Note', WISENET Journal, vol. 60, July, 2002, http://www.wisenet-australia.org/issue60/isabel_bear.htm. Details

See also

• Herd, Margaret (ed.), Who's Who in Australia 2002, 38 edn, Crown Content, Melbourne, 2001, 2020 pp. Details