Read the following passage.
A. Harriet Brooks was born in Exeter, Ontario, in 1876, the third of nine children. Her family moved around Ontario and Quebec before settling in Montreal, where her mother encouraged Harriet and her sisters to go on with their education. She entered McGill University in 1894. In 1898 she graduated with first-class honours in mathematics and natural philosophy and won the Anne Molson Gold Medal. She was then invited to join the research group of Ernest Rutherford, and in 1901 she became the first woman to receive a master's degree in physics at McGill.
B. In 1900 Brooks began to study the emanation given off by thorium. Some scientists thought it was a vapour or a fine powder, but she showed that it was a gas, much lighter than thorium itself. This helped Rutherford and the chemist Frederick Soddy realize that one element had changed into another. The gas is now known as radon. She also found that radioactivity could pass from one surface to another, an effect later used by Otto Hahn and Lise Meitner to separate unknown elements. Her third finding was the centrepiece of Rutherford's Bakerian Lecture of 1904.
C. In 1901 Brooks won a fellowship to study for a doctorate at Bryn Mawr College in Pennsylvania. While there she was awarded a European fellowship, which she chose to use at Cambridge in the laboratory of Joseph John Thomson. Her research went well, but without a mentor her confidence fell, and she decided she was not able enough to go on to a PhD. In 1904 she became a tutor in physics at Barnard College in New York City. When she announced her engagement to Bergen Davis in 1906, the dean, Laura Drake Gill, demanded her resignation, believing that a woman could not handle both marriage and academic duties.
D. Brooks broke off the engagement and left Barnard. She travelled with the party of the Russian author Maksim Gorky from New York to Capri, in Italy, and then went to Paris to do research with Marie Curie. Early in 1907 Rutherford, who had moved to Manchester in England, offered her a fellowship so that she could rejoin his research group. She resigned her post in Paris, but then wrote to tell him that she was engaged and would not accept. She married Frank Pitcher, her former laboratory instructor at McGill, and the couple moved back to Montreal. She did not continue in physics.
E. Not given in any of the above paragraphs.
Decide which paragraph, A to D, has the information given in each statement below. Select E if the information is not given in any of the paragraphs.
AI explanationShows the answer. Tap to open.
Correct Answer: D
Why this is correct: Look at paragraph D: Rutherford, then in Manchester, offered her a fellowship so she could rejoin his research group. She wrote to tell him she would not accept. Rejoining means working with him again.
Passage Reference: Early in 1907 Rutherford, who had moved to Manchester in England, offered her a fellowship so that she could rejoin his research group.
Tips: Two paragraphs place her in England. Look for the offer she said no to.
Why the other options are wrong:
- A: In paragraph A, she first joins Rutherford's group in Montreal. It is a start, not a refusal.
- B: The second paragraph shows Rutherford using her results in a lecture. But he makes no offer and she refuses nothing.
- C: Paragraph C places her at Cambridge with Joseph John Thomson, on a fellowship she accepted rather than refused.
- E: Rutherford's 1907 offer from Manchester and her answer to it are both in paragraph D.
Correct Answer: C
Passage Reference: When she announced her engagement to Bergen Davis in 1906, the dean, Laura Drake Gill, demanded her resignation, believing that a woman could not handle both marriage and academic duties.
Why this is correct: In paragraph C, the dean at Barnard, Laura Drake Gill, believed a woman could not handle both marriage and academic duties. A dean runs the college, so she was Brooks's employer. Academic duties are university work.
Tips: Her 'employer' is the person in charge where she worked. Look for what that person thought about a wife doing this work.
Why the other options are wrong:
- A: Her mother's support for her studies is in paragraph A, which is the opposite of doubting her.
- B: The second paragraph covers her discoveries. No one in it has an opinion about marriage.
- D: Paragraph D describes her own marriage in 1907, but no employer's view of married women.
- E: The dean's belief about marriage and academic duties is given in paragraph C.
Correct Answer: E
Passage Reference: While there she was awarded a European fellowship, which she chose to use at Cambridge in the laboratory of Joseph John Thomson.
Why this is correct: Notice that paragraph C says she was awarded a European fellowship and chose to use it at Cambridge. It does not say that anyone advised her. So Rutherford's advice is not in the passage.
Tips: Find where the award takes her to Cambridge. Check whether Rutherford gives her any advice about it.
Why the other options are wrong:
- A: Paragraph A tells how she joined Rutherford's group in Montreal, not any advice about where to use a fellowship.
- B: In paragraph B, Rutherford is linked to her research results, not to her plans for her fellowship.
- C: Paragraph C says the choice of Cambridge was hers. It gives no advice from Rutherford or anyone else.
- D: The fourth paragraph has Rutherford offering a fellowship in 1907, a different award and a different place.
Correct Answer: B
Passage Reference: This helped Rutherford and the chemist Frederick Soddy realize that one element had changed into another.
Why this is correct: Look at paragraph B: she found that the emanation was a gas. This helped Rutherford and the chemist Frederick Soddy realize that one element had changed into another. Rutherford and Soddy are the two co-workers.
Tips: Look for two people she 'helped'. Then check what they came to understand about one substance becoming a different one.
Why the other options are wrong:
- A: The first paragraph describes her schooling and degrees. It does not report any discovery.
- C: Her research at Cambridge is mentioned in paragraph C, but not what it showed or who learned from it.
- D: In paragraph D, she does research with Marie Curie in Paris, but no result is described.
- E: The idea that one element had changed into another, reached by Rutherford and Soddy, is in paragraph B.
Correct Answer: A
Passage Reference: Her family moved around Ontario and Quebec before settling in Montreal, where her mother encouraged Harriet and her sisters to go on with their education.
Why this is correct: In paragraph A, her mother encouraged Harriet and her sisters to continue their education. Harriet and her sisters are the daughters, and going on with their education means to keep studying.
Tips: Look for her mother. Then check what she wanted her girls to do.
Why the other options are wrong:
- B: Paragraph B is about her research on thorium and radon, not her family.
- C: The third paragraph tells of a dean who pushed her out of her job, not a parent who supported her.
- D: Her own marriage and move back to Montreal are in paragraph D, not her mother's advice.
- E: Her mother's encouragement of Harriet and her sisters appears in paragraph A.
Correct Answer: C
Passage Reference: Her research went well, but without a mentor her confidence fell, and she decided she was not able enough to go on to a PhD.
Why this is correct: Look at paragraph C: at Cambridge, without a mentor, her confidence fell. She decided she was not able enough to go on to a PhD. Losing faith in her ability matches her confidence falling.
Tips: Scan for PhD. Then check how she felt about herself at that time.
Why the other options are wrong:
- A: Paragraph A lists degrees she did earn in Montreal, with no loss of confidence.
- B: In paragraph B, her research succeeds and is used by others. There are no doubts.
- D: The fourth paragraph has her working in Paris and then leaving physics. But it says she chose marriage, not that she doubted her ability.
- E: Her falling confidence at Cambridge and her doubts about a PhD are in paragraph C.
Correct Answer: E
Passage Reference: She was then invited to join the research group of Ernest Rutherford, and in 1901 she became the first woman to receive a master's degree in physics at McGill.
Why this is correct: In paragraph A, she was the first woman to receive a master's degree in physics at McGill. We are not told what her research for that degree was about. So the topic is missing.
Tips: Knowing that she earned a degree is not the same as knowing what it was about.
Why the other options are wrong:
- A: Paragraph A gives the year and the importance of her master's degree, but not the subject of her research for it.
- B: The second paragraph describes research on thorium and radioactivity, which is not electricity and magnetism.
- C: A planned doctorate and research at Cambridge are in paragraph C, not the topic of her McGill degree.
- D: Paragraph D mentions McGill only as the place where Frank Pitcher taught her.
Correct Answer: A
Passage Reference: In 1898 she graduated with first-class honours in mathematics and natural philosophy and won the Anne Molson Gold Medal.
Why this is correct: Notice that paragraph A says she graduated with first-class honours in 1898 and won the Anne Molson Gold Medal. A gold medal is a special prize, and it came with her first degree.
Tips: Several awards appear. Find the one that came with her first degree in 1898.
Why the other options are wrong:
- B: In paragraph B, there is a famous lecture about her work, but that is not a prize given to her.
- C: The third paragraph has two fellowships. But these came after 1901 and were for further study, not with her first degree.
- D: Paragraph D has a fellowship that she refused in 1907, long after her first degree.
- E: The Anne Molson Gold Medal, won with her 1898 degree, is named in paragraph A.
Correct Answer: D
Passage Reference: She travelled with the party of the Russian author Maksim Gorky from New York to Capri, in Italy, and then went to Paris to do research with Marie Curie.
Why this is correct: Look at paragraph D: she travelled with the party of the Russian author Maksim Gorky from New York to Capri. A party here means a group of companions.
Tips: Several trips are described. Find the one with 'a well-known Russian author', and check that she went with his group.
Why the other options are wrong:
- A: In paragraph A, her family moves around Ontario and Quebec, not with a writer.
- B: The second paragraph names several scientists who used her work, but no writer.
- C: Paragraph C has her going to Pennsylvania and Cambridge for study, not with an author's group.
- E: Her trip with Maksim Gorky's party from New York to Capri appears in paragraph D.
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