Talk:Margaret Eliza Maltby/GA1

GA Review

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Nominator: Physhist (talk · contribs) 20:51, 19 June 2024 (UTC)

Reviewer: Esculenta (talk · contribs) 16:01, 20 June 2024 (UTC)

Hi, I'll review this. I should have comments up within a couple of days. Esculenta (talk) 16:01, 20 June 2024 (UTC)

Here are my initial comments:

Lead

• The lead seems a little thin; perhaps mention her role in obtaining fellowships for female researchers (constrasted with the contemporary difficulty of women receiving these), her introduction of the first course on physics of music. Her "adoption" and subsequent revelations should also be mentioned.
• "Maltby was also the first woman to earn"
• German qualifies as WP:Overlink, but it would be appropriate to have links for solution, electrolytic, resistance

Early life

• "Maltby would later change her name to Margaret in 1889." probably clearer to use the simple past tense (generally more suitable for historical facts in a biographical article) rather than future-in-the-past tense. Also, it's a bit unclear which of the three Maltby ladies are being referred to here. I note that there's some more interesting details in the Behrman (2020) source; that her sisters were quite a bit older, that they named her, and that she disliked the name intensely.
• reading further in Behrman (2020) source, I notice that the article doesn't mention her close and long-lasting friendship with Ellen Swallow Richards. There's also some discussion about her views on marriage that could be elaborated in the article, and would help provide some background context to her later views on the subject. Also maybe highlight the contradiction (pointed out by Behrman) between Laura Gill's position on the "loyalty" of married women academics with the "self-elected home duty" implied by Maltby's "adopted" son?
• more from this source: "Margaret Maltby had asked Philip to burn all of her personal papers upon her death." I think expanding on the "why" of this would help provide important contextual information on some of the difficulties female academic faced.
• unlink science, mathematics
• "After Edmund Maltby's death, the Maltby family moved to Oberlin, Ohio, for educational opportunities." date?

Education

• possible useful links: preparatory school, matriculating, acoustics, Charles R. Cross (physicist), frequency, sound wave, fellowship, physical chemistry, conductor, solvent
• "In 1887, Maltby enrolled at MIT" use full name & link & abbreviate on first use in non-lead text
• "Maltby and Cross's work, published in 1892, showed that less than a cycle was necessary to distinguish a C3 tuning fork from a C4 tuning fork." Does the source mention that this is one octave apart (~130.8 Hz)? If so, might be good to add this for a bit more context.
• "European Fellowship" don't think the latter word needs capitalization

Career

• "Maltby had previously taught at Wellesley as an instructor in physics from 1889 to 1893." are the dates correct? From previous text, she entered the college in 1887 and graduated in 1893; would it have been normal to have a 3rd/4th year student as a physics "instructor"? The Scott (1960) says that she was there from 1889–1893, but does not mention any teaching.
• "At the end of the Fall 1896 term" capitalization not required
• "Maltby suddenly resigned for what she claimed at the time was to recuperate from a serious accident." any more details? Never mind, I figured it out :)
• links: mathematical physics, adjunct professor, chair
• "Unfortunately Maltby's involvement in administration…" see MOS:EDITORIAL
• "1909-1910" (and others) number ranges require an endash, not a hyphen
• "The first edition of American Men of Science, published in 1906, recognized Maltby's name with a star denoting her as one of the country's top scientists." What was the start for? (I assume it's because she was a women, but perhaps it should be said explicitly?) Was she the first women to receive this accolade? This source says her name remained on that list for the next six editions of the publication.
• That same source also says "She was elected a fellow of the American Physical Society, and in 1960 her photograph was included in the American Journal of Physics where she was one of eight physicists profiled, and the only woman.", which seems like interesting/relevant info that could be included. Also, it mentions a May 5, 1944 New York Times obit; have you seen this?
• The 1916 source Maltby-Maltbie family history has more information about her relatives
• this source mentions that her work with Nersnt involved a novel application of a Wheatstone bridge for measuring conductivity in electrolytically resistant substances; I think adding this would give a bit more useful context about the nature of her research.

Personal life

• "In her leisure time, Maltby enjoyed listening to music, especially the opera, and travel."

• about the publication: is this a complete list of her pubs? If so, state that explicitly and give a source where the list came from. Otherwise, the heading should be "Selected publications"
• not necessary for GA, but it would be nice to give translated titles, and doi's for the other pubs listed. Some of these are fully available for viewing too (e.g. https://zenodo.org/records/1589399/files/article.pdf?download=1)