Born: 8 August 1933, Belgium
Died: 7 October 2021
Country most active: United States
Also known as: Myriam Paula Morgenstein
The following bio was written by Emma Rosen, author of On This Day She Made History: 366 Days With Women Who Shaped the World and This Day In Human Ingenuity & Discovery: 366 Days of Scientific Milestones with Women in the Spotlight, and has been republished with permission.
Myriam Paula Sarachik was a Belgian-born American experimental physicist renowned for her contributions to low-temperature solid-state physics. She served as a distinguished professor of physics at the City College of New York from 1996.
Born Myriam Paula Morgenstein in Antwerp, Belgium, Sarachik’s family was Jewish Orthodox, spoke Yiddish at home, and had their roots in Poland. After WWII started, the family tried to escape Belgium which was extremely difficult. They were detained in a concentration camp in France for a while and then smuggled to Spain, from where they were able to escape to Cuba. Finally, they settled in the United States in 1947. She graduated from the Bronx High School of Science in 1950 and earned her B.A. from Barnard College in 1954. Her academic journey continued at Columbia University, where she completed her M.S. in 1957 and her Ph.D. in 1960, focusing on superconducting films.
Sarachik’s career included a postdoctoral appointment at Bell Telephone Laboratories, where she confirmed the Kondo effect’s existence. In 1964, she defied advice and joined the physics department at the City College of New York, rising to the rank of distinguished professor by 1996. Her research spanned low-temperature condensed matter physics, metal-insulator transitions, and semiconductor properties.
Throughout her career, Sarachik received numerous accolades, including the APS Medal for Exceptional Achievement in Research (2020) and the Oliver E. Buckley Condensed Matter Physics Prize (2005). She was also an advocate for the human rights of scientists. Her legacy continues to influence the field of physics, leaving an enduring mark on scientific research.