AV News 177 - August 2009
IN MEMORIAM
M a u ric e D o rik e n s MFIAP HonEFIAP
Dr. Sc. Liliane V.E. Dorikens-Vanpraet, EFIAP, HonEFIAP
Antwerp 18.6.1936 – Ghent 8.5.2009 (Belgium)
Like many of her generation, Liliane grew up during
the World war years 1940-45. It left an imprint on
her further life: careful management of the
housekeeping and perseverance in all important
aspects of life would become the Leitmotiv in her
brilliant career.
She started her scientific and mathematical
studies in Antwerp and continued these at the
University of Ghent. After a short period as a
teacher in a high school in Antwerp she quickly
returned to fundamental research at the Nuclear
Physics lab of the Ghent University. In these first
years she obtained the Ph.D. degree with the greatest distinction. Being the
first female researcher in nuclear physics in Ghent, she had to fight to be
really accepted as a colleague by the very respected professors and lab
directors of these years. Later on it all changed and there is no longer any
difference between a female and a male nuclear physicist. She was
specialized in nuclear spectroscopy, i.e. the study of new radioactive
isotopes. In cooperation with her colleagues she all together published some
150 papers in international journals. Later on she was active in the field of
materials research. Ending at 60 her scientific career she said: "I never came
to work reluctantly, not even one day."
After her retirement she started a new career as scientific member of the
Museum for the History of Sciences at the University of Ghent, where
Maurice, her husband, also a nuclear physicist, had become Director. There
she performed the immense task to determine, to catalogue and to describe
hundreds of old to very old scientific research instruments from the University
collections. Many, many times she was confronted with questions like "What
might this be, what in God's name was it used for, is it physics, medicine,
chemistry, or just something someone in the past dropped in the museum to
get rid of it. She succeeded in putting forward the fundamentals of how
cataloguing a scientific museum should be done.
Besides these complex scientific activities, she was also most active in
other fields. For 20 years she was the ever-helpful assistant of her husband
who had become president of FIAP, the International Federation of
Photographic Art, grouping in these days some 70 countries. Her excellent
knowledge of French and English (her native language being Dutch) brought
her the difficult task of being the editor of the FIAP meetings and congresses
besides being the omni present interpreter. Nevertheless, in these times she
found a way to participate in international salons or being a very respected
jury member of international AV festivals.
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