Moore, Elizabeth Jean Weichel, 1925-2007

Optical crystallographer. AB Geology, Radcliffe College, 1946; studied crystallography at MIT and University of Amsterdam (Fulbright Scholarship, 1950-51). Worked at Baird-Atomic (formerly Baird Associates); IBM Corporation, 1959-1971; 1981-1987. Member Optical Society of America; American Crystallographic Association. Developed cleanroom garments and procedures for microchip manufacture.

Elizabeth (Weichel) Moore was born April 13, 1925, in Baltimore, Maryland, the daughter of Eugenia Price and Albert John Weichel. She grew up in Waltham (Mass.) and Belmont (Mass.), attending Belmont Junior High, and Belmont High School. She studied voice and sang in school operettas.

She entered Radcliffe College in 1942, majored in geology, was a member of the Radcliffe Choral Society and the Harvard Chapel Choir, and participated in crew and war activities, such as the Radcliffe Entertainment Unit.

After graduation from Radcliffe (1946), she worked at Polaroid Corporation, and then combined part-time jobs at Harvard Medical School and Baird Associates with graduate work at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in crystallography (1946-1948). She was a charter member of the American Crystallographic Association, and active in the Optical Society of America. While on a Fulbright grant in Europe, she became engaged to Edwin T. Moore II and they were married in December 1951. She continued part-time work as research assistant in fiber optics, optical crystal studies, and microphotography at the International Business Machines (IBM) Research Center while bringing up their two sons.

In 1967, the Moores moved from Ossining (N.Y.) to Underhill Center (Vt.) where Ed Moore had built a vacation home. Betty Moore transferred to IBM in Essex Junction and worked as a consultant in contamination control until ill health caused her to retire (1971). She rejoined the company (1981-1987) as a full-time engineer, continuing to work in contamination control; and later, as a consultant, edited its corporate contamination control newsletter.