Bertha Swirles

Bertha Swirles, Lady Jeffreys (22 May 1903 – 18 December 1999) was an English physicist, academic and scientific author who carried out research on quantum theory in its early days. She was associated with Girton College, University of Cambridge, as student and Fellow, for over 70 years.

Biography Bertha Swirles was born in Northampton in 1903 to Harriett née Blaxley (born around 1873), a primary school teacher, and William Alexander Swirles (b. 1878), a leather salesman. She became a research student of quantum theory partly under Ralph Fowler at the University of Cambridge, one of a distinguished company of his students that included Paul Dirac and Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar. She also carried out research at the University of Göttingen under Max Born and Werner Heisenberg. She returned to Girton College in 1938 as a mathematics lecturer and Fellow of the College. She continued her research into quantum theory, but also expanded her work to include seismology. In 1949 she became Director of Studies for Mathematics at Girton, a position she held until 1969.

She received honorary degrees from the Open University and the University of Saskatchewan.