4 In memoriam: Gertrude (Fleming) Rempfer, 1912-2011 meritus Professor Gertrude “Gert” Rempfer, born Jan. 30, 1912 in Seattle, died Oct. 4, 2011 in Forest Grove. Her husband, Professor Emeritus Robert Rempfer, longtime PSU mathematics professor and department head, preceded her in death. Family members, PSU colleagues and friends gathered in Smith Memorial Ballroom Nov. 29 to honor her 99-year life. In high school Gert displayed abiding science interests— Gertrude Rempfer notably in physics, math, and botany—which afford opportunities for understanding nature’s patterns and organization. In 1930 she enrolled at the University of Washington, moving from forestry to physics. There she completed BA (1934) and doctoral (1939) degrees, laying the foundation for pioneering research in electron optics and microscopy. At a time when women scientists faced limited academic employment opportunities, Professor Rempfer launched a distinguished, seven-decade long career, gaining international recognition in the process. After filling in as a one-year replacement (1939-40) in the Mount Holyoke College physics department, she began a two-year instructional stint at Russell Sage College. Two years later she met and married mathematician Robert Rempfer, who then taught at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Wartime mobilization dramatically expanded opportunities for physicists, and from 1942 to 1944 Gert held high level research positions in the Manhattan Project at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory and at Columbia’s Special Alloy Materials Laboratories. At war’s end, both Rempfers worked in private industry on electron microscope development, with Gertrude serving (1945-51) as a physicist and project engineer for the Farrand Optical Company. In 1951 the Rempfer family—which then included three children—moved to Antioch College in Ohio where Gert held an appointment as an associate professor in engineering while Robert taught mathematics. Their Ohio careers coincided with vicious assaults on academic freedom stemming from that era’s anti-communist fervor. The College’s administration did not tolerate the Rempfers’ public expressions favoring universal civil liberties, prompting a move to Fisk University in Nashville, TN, an institution founded to educate newly Freedmen in the Reconstruction Era. After four years at Fisk, the controversy arising from the Supreme Court’s public school desegregation decision induced the Rempfers to move to the Northwest where they encountered an atmosphere more conducive to their consistent support for human rights, justice and peace. Ohio University (Athens, OH), recognizing Gert’s contributions to science and the circumstances of her departure from Antioch, awarded her an honorary doctorate of science in 1992. At its annual Freedom Day Convocation in 1996 Fisk University bestowed upon her a certificate for service as an educator “. . . concerned for the greater good of humankind.” After coming to PSU in 1959 Professor Rempfer taught both undergraduate and advanced physics courses while actively pursuing research. After advancing to emerita status in 1978, Gert continued to commute to the PSU physics laboratory from her farm home near Forest Grove until a few weeks before her death. During “retirement” Professor Rempfer deployed her experience and prestige to generate partnerships between the University and industry, while her research produced numerous patents and key publications that laid the theoretical foundation for the emerging area of photoelectron microscopy. Her electronics optics expertise attracted significant international attention from industry and governmental organizations. A longtime research partnership with University of Oregon Chemistry professor O. Hayes Griffith yielded the world’s first ultra high vacuum photoemission electron microscope. At PSU’s 1993 Commencement President Judith Ramaley honored Professor Rempfer with a citation recognizing her University service in scholarly and scientific achievements as well as for her “dedication to principle.” With a grant from the Rempfer family and donations from a variety of sources, PSU established the “Gertrude F. Rempfer Endowed Chair in Physics” in June 1997. In August 2010, she was named a Fellow of the Microscopy Society of America. Gert’s name was recently placed along PSU’s “Walk of the Heroines,” which honors women for their contributions to society. At least a dozen scholarly groups and academic institutions have bestowed honors and recognition upon Gert Rempfer. To her children, Richard, Jean, Bill, Sarah and Rhoda, and to her grandchildren, RAPS extends its heartfelt sympathy. --Emeritus Professor of History Victor C. Dahl E
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