Noddack, Ida Eva (1896-1978)

20th Century

Born: Lackhausen near Wesel (Germany), 1896 
Died: Bad Neuenahr (Germany), 1978 

After studying chemistry in Berlin she worked in a company and, together with her husband Walter Noddack, at a state institution for the control of physical and chemical measurements (Physiklisch-Technische Reichsanstalt). After she carried out research at the universities of Freiburg and Strasbourg and at an institution for geochemistry in Bamberg. After a long investigation in 1925 the couple succeeded in discovering the element Rhenium by X-ray spectroscopy, by 1929 they had isolated the new element. Further research aimed at determining the frequency and distribution of the elements in the earth's crust.