Dr. Alice Vibert Douglas, Brilliant Canadian Astrophysicist

Alice Vibert Douglas was born on December 5, 1894 to Methodist missionary parents in Montreal, Quebec. Sent to live with family in England when her parents died in 1904, Douglas returned to Montreal when she was a young adult. The intelligent young woman enrolled at McGill University and immersed her mind in mathematics and physics, according to McGill University’s “Alumni Quarterly”, Newsbites, Summer 2003. She left her studies to return to England in 1916 to work as a statistician in the London War Office and the Ministry of National Service. In 1918, Douglas’ contributions to the war effort were recognized and she was made a Member of the Order of the British Empire.

First Person to Receive Astrophysics Degree from McGill

Returning to McGill University, Douglas completed her undergraduate degree and earned her Master’s Degree in Physics the next year, in 1922. Expanding her studies, she enrolled at the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom for postgraduate work. At the Cambridge Observatory and the Cavendish Laboratory, renowned physicist Arthur Stanley Eddington became Douglas’ mentor, influencing her interests toward astrophysics. In 1925, she received her PhD in Astrophysics from McGill University. Douglas was not only the first woman, she was the first person at a Quebec university to receive the specialized degree. It would be 47 more years before the next PhD in Astrophysics was earned at a Quebec university. received in 1972.

Douglas Encouraged Women to Enter Sciences

McGill’s Department of Physics, hired Douglas immediately as physics lecturer. Her research specialty was the spectroscopic absolute magnitudes of the hot A and B stars, and the Stark effect in star atmospheres. Alice shared her knowledge, encouraging women to reach for the stars in the sciences. Member of the Canadian Federation of University Women, Douglas was the first Canadian president of the International Federation of University Women, which offered a women’s scholarship in her name.

Offered an appointment of Dean of Women in 1939, Queen’s University enticed Douglas to move to Kingston, Ontario, noted the Queen’s University Encyclopedia’s entry titled Douglas, Allie Vibert. The female student residence Ban Righ Hall became her new home. Providing counselling for the girls, Douglas oversaw 500 first-year students, and encouraged them to dive into engineering and medicine programs at the university.

Motherly and Caring Dean

In the Canadian Federation of University Women, Journal (Vol. 10, #2, 2001, noted in Women’s History Review, Shirley Brooks said that Douglas’ hair was “held back in a neat little bun, she wore comfortable tweeds, and stout walking shoes.” She added that Douglas “had a strong handshake and a warm smile – and remained the same for the next near 50 years, just as did her laughing eyes and wry sense of humour.”

Although she was a scholar and prestigious scientist, Douglas was still chained to tedious duties as Women’s Dean, required to keep track of the towel and linen counts, and monitoring the dining room. The office of Professor of Astronomy was offered to Douglas in 1946. She accepted while also remaining the Dean of Women.

Einstein Disagreed on Science for All

Placing stargazing and astronomy in reach for everyone, Douglas travelled around the world speaking about the universe, putting the technical aspects and atomic theories into plain language. Douglas wrote technical and popular articles, and spoke on radio about the thrills of astronomy. She also wrote a biography about her physicist Arthur Stanley Eddington. A long-time member of the Montreal chapter of the Royal Astronomy Society of Canada, Douglas was Second Vice President of RASC when she moved to Kingston. She then achieved the status of the first woman National President of the Society from 1943-1944.

There was an unusual critic of Douglas’ goal of making science accessible. Interviewing the famous scientist Albert Einstein at Princeton University in 1954, the two scientists entered into a minor disagreement. Einstein believed then that scientists should not make their work understandable to laypersons. It was the exact opposite of Douglas’ principle that scientists had an obligation to share their knowledge.

Awards for Dr. Alice Vibert Douglas

Retiring the post of Dean of Women in 1958, Douglas lectured until retirement six in 1964. Honourary degrees were bestowed upon her from Queen’s and McGill Universities in Canada, and Queensland University in Australia. The National Council of Jewish Women named Alice one of the ten “Women of the Century” in 1967. On April 26, 1968, Douglas was awarded Office of the Order of Canada “for her contribution to the field of astronomy, as teacher, author and representative of Canada on international conferences.”

Posthumous honours were also awarded to her. Asteroid 3269 – also called a “minor planet” – was dubbed Vibert-Douglas in 1988. A crater on the planet Venus was named the Vibert-Douglas Patera in 2003, said Carmen Rush in “Historical Figures in Astronomy” of RASC. (A patera is an irregularly shaped or complex crater with scalloped edges.)

A bright star glittering in the mysterious skies of astrophysics, Dr. Alice Vibert Douglas died at age 93 in Kingston, Ontario on July 2, 1988.

Sources

• Newsbites, Summer 2003, McGill University Alumni Quarterly Accessed April 20, 2011
• Douglas, Allie Vibert, Queen’s University Encyclopedia Accessed April 20, 2011
• Brooks, Shirley, Canadian Federation of University Women, Journal, Vol. 10, #2, 2001
• Rush, Carmen, Historical Figures in Astronomy, Royal Astronomy society of Canada (RASC) Accessed April 21, 2011
• Douglas, Alice Vibert, Obituary, R.A.S. Canada Journal, Vol. 82, NO. 6, December 1988 Accessed April 21, 2011