The Canada Atlas

Learn / People who shaped Canada

Ursula Franklin

Physicist and pacifist · 1921-2016

Ursula Franklin
Martin Franklin · CC BY 3.0

Measured nuclear fallout in children's teeth and helped get atmospheric testing banned.

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Life story

  1. September 16, 1921 · Germany
    Born in Munich to a Jewish mother and a Protestant father
  2. 1943 · Germany
    Survived a Nazi forced labour camp; her parents survived the camps
  3. 1949 · Toronto
    Came to Canada and began work in metallurgy and archaeometry
  4. 1960 · Toronto
    Her baby tooth survey found strontium-90 from fallout in Canadian children
  5. 1984 · Toronto
    Became the first woman named University Professor at the University of Toronto
  6. 1989 · Toronto
    Gave the Massey Lectures, published as The Real World of Technology
  7. July 22, 2016 · Toronto
    Died in Toronto

Sources