Iris M. Ovshinsky

Who was Iris M. Ovshinsky?

Iris M. Ovshinsky was an American businesswoman and scientist, and the co-founder of Energy Conversion Devices with her husband Stanford R. Ovshinsky, serving as its Vice President from its founding in 1960 until her death.

Born Iris L. Miroy in New York, she earned a bachelor's degree in zoology from Swarthmore College in 1947, a master's degree in biology from the University of Michigan in 1950, and doctorate in biochemistry in 1960 from Boston University.

Prior to marrying Stan Ovshinsky, her first marriage gave her a daughter and son, Robin and Steven Dibner, and she divorced in 1959. She married Stanford Ovshinsky in 1959, who had three sons, Ben, Harvey and Dale Ovshinsky. Mr. Ovshinsky was a prolific inventor, credited with inventing the nickel metal hydride battery, and amorphous materials used in a variety of products from flexible solar panels to rewritable CDs and DVDs. Disagreeing with his wife's downplaying of her contributions throughout their careers, Stan said she was a partner in everything they did, "a colleague and collaborator in my scientific activity. She's just too damn modest."

Ovshinsky briefly appears in Who Killed the Electric Car? the documentary film which explores the creation, limited commercialization, and subsequent destruction of the battery electric vehicle in the United States, specifically the General Motors EV1 of the 1990s.