death_date death_place work_institution birth_place nationality birth_date known_for residence prizes article_title name alma_mater
4 february 1990 vienna austria institut für radiumforschung vienna austria-hungary austrian 24 january 1904 discovered of astatine in natural decay processes products austria wilhelm exner medal , 1954 berta karlik
 berta karlik university of vienna
berta karlik

berta karlik was an austrian physicist .
she worked for the university of vienna , eventually becoming the first female professor at the institution .
while working with ernst foyn she published a paper on the radioactivity of seawater .
she discovered that the element 85 astatine is a product of the natural decay processes .
the element was first synthesized in 1940 by dale r. corson , k. r. mackenzie , and emilio segrè , after several scientists in vain searched for it in radioactive minerals .
