Esther M. Conwell

Esther Marley Conwell (May 23, 1922 – November 16, 2014) was a pioneering American chemist and physicist, best known for the Conwell-Weisskopf theory that describes how electrons travel through semiconductors, a breakthrough that helped revolutionize modern computing. Her work enabled the microelectronics industry, long-distance communications networks, advanced photocopying, solar cells, and light-emitting diodes.

Conwell studied properties of semiconductors and organic conductors, especially electron transport. In 1990, she became an adjunct professor at the University of Rochester while still working at Xerox. In 1998, she joined the University of Rochester faculty full-time as a professor of chemistry, focused on the flow of electrons through DNA. Her attraction to the innate order of physics, and her distaste for lab work, eventually led her to theoretical physics.

Conwell obtained a physics B.A. from Brooklyn College in 1942, Phi Beta Kappa. A professor there, Professor Kurrelmeyer, suggested that she apply to graduate school. She attended the University of Rochester and completed a M.S. in physics in 1945 with Victor Weisskopf. Conwell collaborated with Karl Lark-Horovitz and Vivian Johnson at Purdue University on electron scattering by impurities in germanium. Her masters was initially classified then finally declassified in 1945 and subsequently her M.S. was awarded in which she determined the Conwell-Weisskopf theory.

Career After her first year of graduate school, Conwell was employed by Western Electric as an assistant engineer*.

She then became a staff member at Sylvania where she would work for 20 years. Her research focused on semiconductors – theoretical analysis of germanium and silicon. Conwell served as a Visiting Professor for the 1962-1963 academic year in Paris, France at the École Normale Supérieure. Her 1967 book, High Field Transport in Semiconductors, became a basic text in the field. She was also a fellow of the American Physical Society.

In 1960 she had received the Achievement Award of the Society of Women Engineers in "recognition of her significant contributions as a research physicist in the field of solid state research".

She was elected to the National Academy of Engineering (1980), the National Academy of Sciences (1990) and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (1992). She is the only member of the University of Rochester to achieve this.

In 1997 she received the IEEE Thomas Alva Edison Medal for "fundamental contributions to transport theory in semiconductor and organic conductors, and their application to the semiconductor, electronic copying and printing industries." Other notable awardees include Alexander Graham Bell, Vannevar Bush, and Michael Pupin.

In 2009, Conwell received the prestigious National Medal of Science from President Barack Obama, for "her broad contributions to understanding electron and hole transport in semiconducting materials, which helped to enable commercial applications of semiconductor and organic electronic devices, and for extending her analysis to studying the electronic properties of DNA."

Conwell received honorary doctorates from the University of Rochester and Brooklyn College.

Personal life Conwell married Abraham Rothberg, a novelist, in 1944.

On November 16, 2014, Conwell was walking when she was struck by her neighbor's car as he was backing out of his driveway. Capt. David Catholdi of the Brighton Police Department stated that alcohol and speed were not factors in the incident. She was taken to Strong Memorial Hospital, where she died from her injuries several hours later. She was 92 years old and was still actively pursuing research.