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About Her Life
Joan Berkowitz was born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1931. She loved science even as a child. Her other early interests included music, especially playing the flute. As a young student, she carried out a particularly impressive science project on weather systems that earned the highest praise from her teacher, who proclaimed Berkowitz was destined to be a scientist.
After attending Swarthmore College and graduating in 1952 with a B.A. in chemistry, Berkowitz decided to pursue graduate studies in physical chemistry. She set her sights on Princeton University but was barred from enrolling because the Princeton chemistry department refused to accept women into their graduate program. Instead, Berkowitz earned her Ph.D. in physical chemistry at another chemistry-powerhouse: the University of Illinois. She went on to do postdoctoral work at Yale.
In 1957 Berkowitz began working for the technology consulting firm of Arthur D. Little. There she conducted research into high-temperature materials. Much of this work was done to help NASA develop materials for building spacecraft. She was especially concerned with oxidation-resistance. At high temperatures many materials combine with oxygen to form new compounds, a process called oxidation. This is what happens when things burn. Wood, paper, and gasoline all burn by combining chemically with oxygen. At high enough temperatures, even metals will oxidize.
Berkowitz found that a material called molybdenum disilicide (MoSi2) resisted oxidation at high temperatures better than just about any other material known. She also experimented with using electrical fields to prevent oxidation. She did research on a material called gallium arsenide (GaAs) that is used to make solar panels, turning sunlight into electricity. Berkowitz was also one of the first chemists to use computers to predict the behavior of substances before they were tested in the laboratory.
Working her way up the corporate ladder at Arthur D. Little, in 1980 she became head of a division of the company called Environmental Business World Wide. She left Little in 1986 to become CEO of an environmental consulting company, Risk Science International. Then in 1989, she cofounded her own consulting business with Alan Farkas called Farkas Berkowitz and Company.
As an environmental chemist, Berkowitz looked at how to make the exhaust from coal-burning power plants cleaner. The exhaust contains solid particulate matter—smoke and very fine dust particles that can be invisible, float in the air, and be carried by the wind. Solid particulate matter is a serious form of air pollution that can cause many respiratory illnesses. Berkowitz worked to limit the threat that solid particulate matter poses. She also investigated "scrubbing," a technique that removes a compound called sulfur dioxide from coal exhaust. Sulfur dioxide can cause acid rain when it enters the atmosphere. Berkowitz also led the team at Arthur D. Little that created a multivolume index of all commercially produced substances that could harm the environment.
In 1959 she married Arthur Mattuck, an MIT mathematics professor with whom she had one daughter, Rosemary. At a time when women were expected to quit their jobs when they became pregnant, Berkowitz worked through her pregnancy up until two days before giving birth and returned to the lab two weeks later. Her marriage to Mattuck ended in 1977.
Berkowitz has received many honors in her long career. Most notably, she was president of the Electrochemical Society in 1979–1980, the first woman ever to hold that position.
For Further Reading on the Web
J. B. Berkowitz — biography from the Electrochemical Society.
Farkas Berkowitz and Company — the Web site of Berkowitz's consulting firm.
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