My mother-in-law, Emmie Lucassen-Reijnders, who has died aged 87, was a scientist who made a distinguished contribution to the discipline of physical chemistry. Her work is still cited 60 years after publication, and she was a remarkable role model for women in science.
The younger daughter of schoolteachers, Piet Reijnders and Rens Remmers, Emmie was born in Vught in the Netherlands, and went to the local grammar school before studying chemistry at the University of Utrecht. She graduated in 1959, a year after meeting Jaap Lucassen, a fellow chemistry student, whom she married in 1961.
Emmie started her career as a research scientist at the Unilever Research Laboratory in Vlaardingen, where she joined the physical chemistry group led by Max van den Tempel. Recognising her talent, Van den Tempel encouraged Emmie to study for a PhD, which was awarded by the University of Utrecht in 1962, just before the birth of her first daughter. Van den Tempel also made it possible for her to work from home – unusual in those days – and to have a sabbatical in 1964 at Iowa State University in the US, where her second daughter was born.
In 1969, now among the leading names in theoretical surface chemistry, she and Jaap transferred to Unilever’s laboratory at Port Sunlight, Merseyside; but with equal opportunities still a long way off, Emmie declined a post that offered only half the remuneration of that of her husband. She did not let this stem her passion for science, and her 17 years in Britain were among her most productive.
Known as a creative scientist with a formidable intellect, she collaborated widely, publishing a series of research papers in top academic journals with the affiliation, which usually indicates the writer’s university or scientific institution, given as simply 6 Kingsway, Heswall – their home address. Emmie nurtured other talents during this time – she was an avid Guardian reader and crossworder, keen squash player and a talented pianist.
In 1986 the couple rejoined the physical chemistry group at the Unilever laboratory in the Netherlands – by then a world-leading centre of excellence on emulsion research. Emmie worked there until her retirement in 1997. She continued to write papers, examine theses and give lectures, and was still working when the first signs of dementia began to distract her from her calculations. For a while, she was able to draw on her resourcefulness and intelligence to cover her cognitive decline, but this was a strain for her, and when Jaap died in 2016, she moved into residential care. She was reunited with her older sister, Nettie, in a wonderful care home where she was looked after until her death.
Emmie is survived by her two daughters, Anneke (my wife) and Emy, and six grandchildren, Emily, Isobel, Tim, James, Adam and Matthew. Nettie predeceased her.
