Google Doodle honours Romanian physicist Ștefania Mărăcineanu

[{"selector":"#anim-4712cba1-4479-488f-bc37-abf38b1275d6","keyframes":{"opacity":[0,1]},"delay":600,"duration":800,"easing":"cubic-bezier(0.2, 0.6, 0.0, 1)","fill":"both"}] [{"selector":"#anim-7d9aefa0-3177-4462-9d9f-f37348df8ce6","keyframes":{"transform":["translate3d(0px, 211.45116%, 0)","translate3d(0px, 0px, 0)"]},"delay":600,"duration":800,"easing":"cubic-bezier(0.2, 0.6, 0.0, 1)","fill":"both"}]

The Google Doodle for 18 June features Ștefania Mărăcineanu on the occasion of her 140th birth anniversary. But who was the Romanian physicist?

[{"selector":"#anim-ce6c5a63-46aa-41a0-bf4c-3c5c2b094522","keyframes":{"opacity":[0,1]},"delay":600,"duration":800,"easing":"cubic-bezier(0.2, 0.6, 0.0, 1)","fill":"both"}] [{"selector":"#anim-b22eda7f-ea35-49f5-9e6e-0180e444fd80","keyframes":{"transform":["translate3d(0px, 160.63734%, 0)","translate3d(0px, 0px, 0)"]},"delay":600,"duration":800,"easing":"cubic-bezier(0.2, 0.6, 0.0, 1)","fill":"both"}]

The daily Google Doodle is a thing of beauty. For Saturday, 18 June, the Doodle featured renowned Romanian physicist Ștefania Mărăcineanu. Saturday also marked Mărăcineanu's 140th birth anniversary.

[{"selector":"#anim-5156911a-a68b-46e1-85e5-822c09d5a962","keyframes":{"opacity":[0,1]},"delay":600,"duration":800,"easing":"cubic-bezier(0.2, 0.6, 0.0, 1)","fill":"both"}] [{"selector":"#anim-190f1c0c-76c0-472c-8aa2-88fdd59d5245","keyframes":{"transform":["translate3d(0px, 130.27631%, 0)","translate3d(0px, 0px, 0)"]},"delay":600,"duration":800,"easing":"cubic-bezier(0.2, 0.6, 0.0, 1)","fill":"both"}]

But who was Ștefania Mărăcineanu. Born in 1882 in Bucharest, Mărăcineanu îs renowned for her work and research on radioactivity.

[{"selector":"#anim-ed28a077-255f-49a4-b55c-7b1583f8d088","keyframes":{"opacity":[0,1]},"delay":600,"duration":800,"easing":"cubic-bezier(0.2, 0.6, 0.0, 1)","fill":"both"}] [{"selector":"#anim-c9d48382-6ab6-4e94-852a-a688da16112b","keyframes":{"transform":["translate3d(0px, 160.63734%, 0)","translate3d(0px, 0px, 0)"]},"delay":600,"duration":800,"easing":"cubic-bezier(0.2, 0.6, 0.0, 1)","fill":"both"}]

She graduated from the University of Bucharest with a degree in physical and chemical sciences in 1910 and wrote her thesis about light interference and its application to wavelength measurement.

[{"selector":"#anim-9b266f34-eeed-4ca0-b7c4-a07911bc17a8","keyframes":{"opacity":[0,1]},"delay":600,"duration":800,"easing":"cubic-bezier(0.2, 0.6, 0.0, 1)","fill":"both"}] [{"selector":"#anim-0ae42794-2da5-4962-9a9e-ec683faf1c6b","keyframes":{"transform":["translate3d(0px, 140.32925%, 0)","translate3d(0px, 0px, 0)"]},"delay":600,"duration":800,"easing":"cubic-bezier(0.2, 0.6, 0.0, 1)","fill":"both"}]

Mărăcineanu taught in several high schools in Romanian cities. After the First World War, she went to Paris to study further. Considered a pioneer of radioactivity, she studied radioactivity with renowned Polish physicist Marie Curie

[{"selector":"#anim-ee1f0953-afd1-4970-a780-3083567c080b","keyframes":{"opacity":[0,1]},"delay":600,"duration":800,"easing":"cubic-bezier(0.2, 0.6, 0.0, 1)","fill":"both"}] [{"selector":"#anim-9312bad6-b99c-4517-b379-c02f101dbd35","keyframes":{"transform":["translate3d(0px, 142.30377%, 0)","translate3d(0px, 0px, 0)"]},"delay":600,"duration":800,"easing":"cubic-bezier(0.2, 0.6, 0.0, 1)","fill":"both"}]

After receiving her PhD from the Radium Institute, Mărăcineanu worked with Curie till 1926. She died in 1944.

[{"selector":"#anim-5cb741d1-1b0e-4cd0-8f69-13f859c94136","keyframes":{"opacity":[0,1]},"delay":600,"duration":800,"easing":"cubic-bezier(0.2, 0.6, 0.0, 1)","fill":"both"}] [{"selector":"#anim-811a30bc-1a54-4d71-9f63-65e394322258","keyframes":{"transform":["translate3d(0px, 211.45116%, 0)","translate3d(0px, 0px, 0)"]},"delay":600,"duration":800,"easing":"cubic-bezier(0.2, 0.6, 0.0, 1)","fill":"both"}]

The Doodle, which went viral on the internet, features a side view of Mărăcineanu, with Polonium (showed through its periodic table symbol ‘Po’) glowing over her palm in a laboratory. Polonium is a rare and highly radioactive metal with no stable isotopes.

[{"selector":"#anim-e3e71a7e-d43f-4299-b2eb-da6e68f4038e","keyframes":{"opacity":[0,1]},"delay":600,"duration":800,"easing":"cubic-bezier(0.2, 0.6, 0.0, 1)","fill":"both"}] [{"selector":"#anim-a06f1ca9-0928-4fee-94af-7d4b744b88a3","keyframes":{"transform":["translate3d(0px, 122.76204%, 0)","translate3d(0px, 0px, 0)"]},"delay":600,"duration":800,"easing":"cubic-bezier(0.2, 0.6, 0.0, 1)","fill":"both"}]

Mărăcineanu is often considered one of the most pioneering scientists to have worked in the field of radioactivity discover, but also a forgotten figure in the world of STEM (Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics).

[{"selector":"#anim-b0a97ed4-a737-4a6f-829d-6400eafc5b83","keyframes":{"opacity":[0,1]},"delay":600,"duration":800,"easing":"cubic-bezier(0.2, 0.6, 0.0, 1)","fill":"both"}] [{"selector":"#anim-f9673c63-4347-4a34-ab44-17ef31bcee22","keyframes":{"transform":["translate3d(0px, 130.27631%, 0)","translate3d(0px, 0px, 0)"]},"delay":600,"duration":800,"easing":"cubic-bezier(0.2, 0.6, 0.0, 1)","fill":"both"}]

Mărăcineanu is considered Romania's first prominent physicist. Miss Mărăcineanu worked many years in my lab and recently obtained her Ph.D. in physical sciences. I particularly appreciate her scientific work”.

[{"selector":"#anim-b08df595-71e0-4def-bf83-5b07c11ee2af","keyframes":{"opacity":[0,1]},"delay":600,"duration":800,"easing":"cubic-bezier(0.2, 0.6, 0.0, 1)","fill":"both"}] [{"selector":"#anim-9fd7525f-83dc-4253-a843-da24a880ea2e","keyframes":{"transform":["translate3d(0px, 140.32925%, 0)","translate3d(0px, 0px, 0)"]},"delay":600,"duration":800,"easing":"cubic-bezier(0.2, 0.6, 0.0, 1)","fill":"both"}]