Science professor who opened doors for women in the field
Julia R. Weertman was a materials scientist who taught at Northwestern University for more than 45 years and believed scientists should play a role in society.
“Julia had a keen sense of responsibility as a public scientist,” said Katherine Faber, a materials science professor at CalTech and the former chair of Northwestern’s department of materials science and engineering. “In presentations to students, she would emphasize that, besides scholarship, we have obligations as scientists and engineers to our professional societies, to the government and to the public.”
Weertman, 92, died of natural causes July 31 while in hospice care at the Presbyterian Homes retirement community in Evanston, said her daughter, Julia. She had been an Evanston resident since 1959.
Born Julia Randall in Mount Lebanon, Pa., Weertman was valedictorian at Mount Lebanon High School, her daughter said. Initially interested in becoming a pilot, Weertman attended the Carnegie Institute of Technology — now Carnegie Mellon University — in Pittsburgh, where she received a bachelor’s degree in physics in 1946.
In 1947, Weertman got a master’s in physics from Carnegie, and she remained there to earn her doctorate in physics in 1951.
Weertman and her husband, materials scientist Johannes Weertman, both did postdoctoral work at the Ecole Normale Superieure in Paris. She and her husband then moved to Washington, D.C., in 1952 to take jobs at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory.
In 1959, her husband took a job as an associate professor at Northwestern. She remained home, caring for her family, until joining Northwestern’s faculty in 1972 as an assistant professor of materials science. Weertman was the first female materials science professor on Northwestern’s faculty, and in that role, she taught undergraduate and graduate students at the Robert R. McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science.
Weertman was promoted in 1987 to chair the department of materials science and engineering. That made her the first woman in the country to hold a chairperson position within a university engineering department, according to Northwestern. Over the five years she was department chair, Weertman recruited two female faculty members. In addition, the number of undergraduate students studying materials science more than doubled during that period.
“She played an important role in encouraging other women to pursue studies in science or engineering, but she also made major contributions herself,” said Erik Luijten, a Northwestern professor and materials science and engineering department chair. “For instance, she contributed to our understanding of highstrength metallic materials.”
Luijten called Weertman “a wonderful example of how someone can be driven to accomplish much in science and engineering and at the same time be a warm person with broad interests and an eye for the wellbeing of those around her.”
Faber noted that Weertman’s “commitment to diversity was unwavering.”
“There were so many firsts associated with her career — first female in materials science and engineering at Northwestern, first female department chair of a materials department, first woman to win a number of the highest honors awarded in the materials community. She worked tirelessly to leverage these awards to open the doors for other women,” Faber said.
With her husband, Weertman co-authored a 1964 textbook, “Elementary Dislocation Theory,” which was the first textbook written specifically for undergraduates about dislocation theory, which helps determine the behavior of crystalline materials.
In 2014, the American Association of Engineering Societies awarded Weertman the John Fritz Medal for her role in studying materials and in inspiring women to pursue careers in science. Also that year, a graduate fellowship was created by Northwestern’s materials science department in the names of Weertman and her husband.
Weertman also enjoyed gardening, traveling and collecting southwestern Pueblo pottery.
In addition to her husband and daughter, Weertman is survived by a son, Bruce; a sister, Louise Walsh; and a grandson.
Services were held.