Anne Kernan

Kernan was born in 1933 to Annie Connor and Frederick Kernan in Glasnevin. She was the second of four children including Denis, Gerard, and Una. Kernan was educated in the Dominican College on Eccles St, because they had a class in physics. She went on to study physics at University College Dublin graduating with first-class honours in 1952. Kernan was the only woman in the class. After graduation Kernan went on to complete her PhD in physics in her alma mater in 1957. Kernan worked there as a lecturer for four years. She also worked in the University of Rochester.^{[1][2][3][4][5][6]}

Kernan won a post-doctoral scholarship at the Lawrence Radiation Laboratory at the University of California at Berkeley. Her next role was at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center. Finally in 1967, she joined the Department of Physics at the University of California, Riverside. She went on to become chair of the physics department, vice chancellor for research and dean of the graduate division. In each case Kernan was the first woman in all these roles.^{[1][2][7][8][6]}