Judy Franz (born 1938) is an American

physicist A physicist is a scientist who specializes in the field of physics, which encompasses the interactions of matter and energy at all length and time scales in the physical universe. Physicists generally are interested in the root or ultimate cau ...

, educator and the former executive officer of the

American Physical Society The American Physical Society (APS) is a not-for-profit membership organization of professionals in physics and related disciplines, comprising nearly fifty divisions, sections, and other units. Its mission is the advancement and diffusion of ...

Biography

The daughter of two chemists, Ruth Comroe and Eugene Rosenbaum, she grew up in Lansdowne, Pennsylvania. She received her B.A in physics in 1959 from

Cornell University Cornell University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university based in Ithaca, New York, United States. The university was co-founded by American philanthropist Ezra Cornell and historian and educator Andrew Dickson W ...

and pursued graduate studies in physics at the

University of Illinois The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC, U of I, Illinois, or University of Illinois) is a public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Champaign–Urbana metropolitan area, Illinois, United ...

where she earned a master's degree in 1961 and a Ph.D. in 1965. Shortly after earning her Ph.D., she worked as a post-doctoral fellow at the

IBM International Business Machines Corporation (using the trademark IBM), nicknamed Big Blue, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational technology company headquartered in Armonk, New York, and present in over 175 countries. It is ...

research laboratory in

Zurich, Switzerland Zurich (; ) is the largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich. , the municipality had 448,664 inhabitants. The urban area was home to 1.45 ...

from 1965 to 1967, before returning to America to serve as a physics professor at

Indiana University Indiana University (IU) is a state university system, system of Public university, public universities in the U.S. state of Indiana. The system has two core campuses, five regional campuses, and two regional centers under the administration o ...

for 18 years. After her time at Indiana University, Franz spent 5 years on the faculty of

West Virginia University West Virginia University (WVU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university with its main campus in Morgantown, West Virginia, United States. Its other campuses are those of the West Virginia University Ins ...

and three years on the faculty of the

University of Alabama in Huntsville The University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH) is a public research university in Huntsville, Alabama, United States. The university is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools and comprises eight colleges: arts, humanities ...

. In 1994, she took a five-year leave of absence from her faculty position to assume her position as executive officer of the

(APS). Franz has published a number of high-profile articles on

condensed matter physics Condensed matter physics is the field of physics that deals with the macroscopic and microscopic physical properties of matter, especially the solid and liquid State of matter, phases, that arise from electromagnetic forces between atoms and elec ...

, most notably related to the theoretical calculations of electron state

wave function In quantum physics, a wave function (or wavefunction) is a mathematical description of the quantum state of an isolated quantum system. The most common symbols for a wave function are the Greek letters and (lower-case and capital psi (letter) ...

s in systems undergoing metal-insulator transitions. She was a key advocate for improving

physics education Physics education or physics teaching refers to the education methods currently used to teach physics. The occupation is called physics educator or physics teacher. Physics education research refers to an area of pedagogical research that seek ...

, and has received the

Melba Newell Phillips Melba Newell Phillips (February 1, 1907 – November 8, 2004) was an American physicist and a pioneer science educator. One of the first doctoral students of J. Robert Oppenheimer at the University of California, Berkeley, Phillips completed her ...

Medal for Creative Leadership in Physics Education from the

American Association of Physics Teachers The American Association of Physics Teachers (AAPT) was founded in 1930 for the purpose of "dissemination of knowledge of physics, particularly by way of teaching." There are more than 10,000 members in over 30 countries. AAPT publications includ ...

. She served as executive officer of the American Physical Society for 15 years, encouraging more women to pursue careers in physics. She is past Secretary General of the International Union of Pure and Applied Physics. She is now retired.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Franz, Judy R. 1938 births Living people American women physicists Indiana University faculty Place of birth missing (living people) Cornell University alumni University of Illinois alumni 20th-century American physicists 20th-century American women scientists Fellows of the American Physical Society American women academics 21st-century American women Presidents of the American Association of Physics Teachers