Born: 13 August 1919, United States
Died: 8 August 2006
Country most active: United States
Also known as: Margaret Fuchs
As an undergrad in nuclear chemistry at Berkeley, Margaret Melhase discovered and isolated caesium-137, having been assigned to study the newly-created element plutonium by Glenn Seaborg. Seaborg himself was working on plutonium in secret for the U. S. military, and would go on to win a Nobel Prize and chair the Atomic Energy Commission, but Margaret’s contribution was classified due to wartime secrecy. Her application to graduate school at Berkeley was rejected due to her gender, even though the head of chemistry was aware of her incredible achievement. His irrational rationale was that a previous female PhD candidate had married shortly after defending her thesis and thus “wasted her entire education.” Melhase instead began working with Seaborg on the Manhattan Project, but was unable to find employment or acceptance to a PhD program after the end of World War II, effectively ending her career.