several other compounds are present in the sulphate solution that the initial concept was based on, which would have a small interfering affect as the heating process progressed. Death Fanny Gates continued to work until her passing in Chicago on February 24, 1931. While the cause of her death was either undetermined or unreported, like many early scientists working with radioactive materials, it has been written that her death may have been due to a radiation-related disease. References 1872 births 1981 deaths American women physicists Northwestern University alumni 20th-century American physicists 20th-century American women scientists Fellows of the American Physical Society Fellows of the American Mathematical Society University of Pennsylvania alumni