Martha Jane Bergin Thomas made significant contributions to the development of phosphors, solid materials that emit visible light when activated by an outside energy source. In a productive career, she achieved many firsts, becoming the first female director at GTE Electrical Products and the first woman to receive the New England Award for engineering excellence from the Engineering Societies of New England. She is the holder of twenty-three patents, ranging from innovations in electric light technology to improvements in lamp manufacturing methods.

Thomas was born on March 13, 1926, in Boston. Her parents, both teachers, were John A. and Augusta Harris Bergin. "Even as a girl, I had an intense interest in science," Thomas recalled in an interview with Linda Wasmer Smith. After high school, she pursued that interest at Radcliffe, where she graduated with honors in 1945 at the age of nineteen. Her bachelor's degree in chemistry was supposed to...