Franklin, Ursula M., 1921-2016

Ursula Franklin was born September 16, 1921 in Munich, Germany. She studied chemistry and physics at Berlin University until she was expelled by the Nazis; her mother was Jewish. Her parents were interned in concentration camps while Franklin herself was sent to a forced labor camp and repaired bombed buildings during the Holocaust; the family survived and was reunited in Berlin after the war. Franklin received her Ph.D. in experimental physics at the Technical University of Berlin in 1948.

Franklin moved to Canada after being offered the Lady Davis postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Toronto in 1949. She then worked for 15 years at the Ontario Research Foundation. In 1967, Franklin taught in the Department of Metallurgy and Materials Science University of Toronto's Faculty of Engineering where she was an expert in metallurgy and materials science. She was given the designation of University Professor in 1984, becoming the first female professor to receive the university's highest honor. Franklin was a pioneer in the field of archaeometry, which applies modern materials analysis to archaeology. She worked for example, on the dating of prehistoric bronze, copper and ceramic artifacts.

Franklin was a practicing Quaker and actively worked on behalf of pacifist and feminist causes. She wrote and spoke extensively about the futility of war and the connection between peace and social justice.