Rosemary Fowler
July 23rd, 1926
I’m going to be honest with you but I don’t know on what date Rosemary Fowler was born because she’s not telling. Which is entirely her prerogative, being 98 years old and a pioneer in the world of physics. Rosemary can keep her secrets. So, I’ve arbitrarily assigned her today as a birthday for the purposes of this and this alone. She also has an honorary doctorate and it’s not traditional to use the title ‘Doctor’ when one has an honorary degree. But as she’s 98 years old and a pioneer in the world of physics, Dr Fowler can do whatever the hell she likes in my book
Rosemary Fowler made a groundbreaking discovery in 1948 that reshaped our understanding of particle physics. Seventy-five years later, at the age of 98, she was finally awarded an honorary PhD for her monumental contributions to science.
Born in 1926 in Suffolk, England, Rosemary Brown (later Fowler) grew up in a family that valued education and intellectual curiosity. Her father, a Royal Naval engineer, moved the family frequently, exposing Rosemary to various cultures and educational systems. Despite the disruptions, she excelled in her studies, particularly in mathematics and science. During World War II, she attended school in Bath, where she was the only girl in her year to pursue higher education in physics.
In 1947, Rosemary graduated with first-class honors in physics from the University of Bristol, one of the first women to achieve this distinction. Her academic prowess earned her a place in the research group of Cecil Powell, a pioneering physicist known for his work with nuclear emulsion plates to study cosmic rays.
Rosemary’s most significant contribution came in 1948 when she was just 22 years old. While examining photographic plates exposed to cosmic rays at the Sphinx Observatory in Jungfraujoch, Switzerland, she identified a new particle track.
She said, "“I knew at once that it was new and would be very important. We were seeing things that hadn’t been seen before - that’s what research in particle physics was. It was very exciting" The first person she confided in was a fellow student named Peter Fowler.
The trajectory she had been examining, later identified as 'k', provided evidence of an unidentified particle, now known as the kaon or K meson. Interestingly, the k-track was the exact opposite of a particle previously observed by colleagues in Manchester. However, the Manchester team's trajectory decayed into two pions, not three.
Rosemary had "cracked the mirror". Investigating how these mirrored images could be identical yet behave differently ultimately contributed to a revolution in the field of particle physics. This theory has continued to be validated, predicting the existence of particles such as the Higgs boson, which was discovered at CERN in Geneva.
The discovery of the kaon was a watershed moment in particle physics. It provided crucial evidence for the existence of CP symmetry violation, a fundamental aspect of the Standard Model of particle physics.
The following year, she departed from the University after publishing her groundbreaking discovery in three academic papers under 'Brown et al.' with Powell's team, including two in Nature. With strong support from Rosemary, her husband Peter Fowler FRS went on to have a highly distinguished career.
One of her daughters, Mary Fowler, followed in her mother’s scientific footsteps and became a renowned geophysicist and Master of Darwin College, Cambridge. Rosemary’s legacy lived on through her children and their contributions to science.
For decades, Rosemary’s contributions remained largely unrecognized, overshadowed by the achievements of her male colleagues. However, her work did not go unnoticed in the scientific community. Cecil Powell, her doctoral advisor, was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1950 for his development of the photographic method of studying nuclear processes and his discoveries regarding mesons, which included Rosemary’s kaon.
In 2024, the University of Bristol rectified this oversight by awarding Rosemary an honorary Doctor of Science degree. The private ceremony, held near her home in Cambridge, was attended by her children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren, many of whom are scientists themselves. The university’s chancellor, the Nobel Prize winning physicist, Sir Paul Nurse, praised Rosemary’s intellectual rigor and curiosity, highlighting her role in shaping modern physics.
Rosemary’s story is a testament to the resilience and dedication of women in science. Her decision to leave academia to raise a family was a personal sacrifice that many women of her generation faced. Yet, her contributions to particle physics remain invaluable. Her discovery of the kaon continues to influence research and our understanding of the universe.
In her own words, Rosemary expressed humility and gratitude upon receiving her honorary degree. “I feel very honored,” she said, “but I haven’t done anything since to deserve special respect.” Her modesty belies the profound impact of her work, which set the stage for critical discoveries that continue to shape the field of physics.
We live in a very different world now, of course, and one in which women are less likely to be pushed towards the sort of choices Rosemary had to make. But they’re still pushed there. Even now, the idea of Peter (who Mary fully supported in his work, of course) giving up his career to look after the family whilst she carried on with her studies seems alien to us.
Rosemary is wrong when she says she hasn’t sone anything since. She’s done everything since. She’s not remarkable because she discovered something amazing in her 20s and then did not much else; she’s remarkable because she achieved so much so young, raised a whole generation of new scientists, and still, at 98 years old, inspires young women, especially, to follow in her footsteps.
You never know, she might not even be finished yet.