(24/10/1956-26/11/2012)

It is with deepest sadness that we report the passing on November 26, 2012, at the age of 56, of Judith Desimoni, Full Professor at the Physics Department of the National University of La Plata, Principal Researcher of CONICET, Argentina, and a recognized member of the Latin American Mössbauer community.

She graduated in Physics in 1981 and obtained her PhD in Physics in 1984 at the University of La Plata. She held a Postdoctoral Position at the Centre de Spectrométrie Nucléaire et de Spectrométrie de Masse, Université Paris XI, Orsay, France, between 1990 and 1992. Since 1992 she was the head of GISDRAMA, the only Laboratory belonging to a public university in Argentina devoted to the study of environmental radioactivity. She was also cofounder and co-director of the Laboratory of Applications of the Mössbauer Effect and Magnetism of the Physics Department. She was a very active experimental researcher in Solid State Physics, in particular through the application of the Mössbauer effect, field in which she oriented several PhD theses.

Judith Desimoni was committed to the advancement of science and education. She was elected member several times in Committees and Boards of the Institute of Physics and Physics Department of the University of La Plata. She prompted young scientists to get involved in the decision making of scientific policies.

Her research interests were aimed at the applications of Mössbauer effect to fields like ion beam surface modification of materials, thin film silicides, mechanosynthesis, martensitic transformations and magnetism in steels and transition metal alloys, as well as towards the systematic research of radioactivity in food and the environment. In addition to her academic outstanding activities, she was a staunch supporter of organizations that were dedicated to solving social problems.

Her friends and colleagues will always remember her, due to her permanent enthusiasm, as the person who became involved in all aspects of academy, who faced the challenges of profession and life with the same courage and frankness, and offered her help to others at any time she was required.

We all shall miss Judith. Our thoughts are with her family.

This obituary article was forwarded by Dr. Jean-Marc Greneche, vice chair of IBAME (International Board on the Applications of the Mössbauer Effect). The obituary article will also be published in the 3509 issue of MERDJ according to the request of Prof. José Domingos Fabris at Brazil.