Google Doodle celebrates 140th birth anniversary of Romanian physicist Stefania Maracineanu

New Delhi, Jun 18: Search giant Google honoured Romanian physicist Stefania Maracineanu on her 140th birth anniversary,a pioneering woman in the discovery and research of radioactivity with a special doodle. Maracineanu was known for her "knowledge of precise electrometric measurements".

Born in Bucharest, she graduated with a physical and chemical science degree and started her career as a teacher at the Central School for Girls in Bucharest. She received a scholarship from the Romanian Ministry of Science during this time but decided to pursue graduate research at the Radium Institute in Paris.

In 1907, she enrolled at the University of Bucharest, receiving her degree in physical and chemical sciences in 1910. Her senior thesis, titled Light interference and its application to wavelength measurement, earned her a 300 lei prize. After graduation, she taught at high schools in Bucharest, Ploiești, Iași, and Câmpulung.

In 1915, she secured a teaching position at the Central School for Girls in Bucharest, a position she held until 1940.

On 29 November 1935, Nicolae Vasilescu-Karpen gave a lecture at the Romanian Academy of Sciences on Artificial radioactivity and Romanian works in this field, which contained clear allusions to Mărăcineanu's research done in previous years. On 24 June 1936, she asked the Academy of Sciences to recognize the priority of her work. Her request was granted, and on 21 December 1937 she was elected corresponding member of the Romanian Academy of Sciences, Physics section.

In 1937 she was named Director of Research by the Academy, and in 1941 she was promoted to Associate Professor.
In 1942 Mărăcineanu was mandatorily retired. She died in 1944 of cancer, reportedly due to radiation exposure. According to some sources, she is buried at Bellu Cemetery in Bucharest, though other sources disagree on this point.[3][4]

In 2013, Poșta Română issued a 1 leu anniversary stamp to honor the scientific activity of Mărăcineanu; however, the image on the stamp is not hers, but of Marie Curie.