S. Jean Gibson (1930-2020) High School Teacher, College Faculty, Space and Cancer Research
Sister Jean Gibson (Norma Jean) was born on December 1, 1930, to George and Mary (Pizzuto). Her mother prized education and religious values that were passed on to Sister Jean, forgoing a red-convertible that was promised to her by her father if she didn’t go.
Sister Jean entered St. Benedict's Monastery as an X-ray technologist, training at Carbon Jr. College and the School of X-ray Technology at St. Benedict’s Hospital in Ogden, UT, a profession she shared that used her math genius and a future for women. She earned her B.S. degree in chemistry in 1956 at the College of St. Benedict. She worked at the St. Cloud Hospital as an X-ray technologist for two years, then taught science and math from 1958–63 at St. Boniface High School in Cold Spring, MN.
Sister Jean attended graduate school and earned her master’s degree and her Ph.D. in physics from the University of Iowa. She felt the highlight of her life at that time was having James Van Allen (the space scientist famous for discovering the radiation belt around the Earth) as her major professor and being able to publish two papers with him on solar radiation. Her dissertation that was later published was titled, “Correlation of X-Ray Radiation (2-12 A) with Microwave Radiation (10.7 Centimeters) from the Non-flaring Sun.” From data collected on moon-orbiting satellites, she made a significant contribution to the effects on Earth’s weather patterns and increased the ability to predict and control climate conditions.
In 1975, Sister Jean returned to Utah, where she spent one year at the University of Utah for training in radiation therapy; she also received training at the M.D. Anderson Tumor Institute in Houston. She noted that she wanted to be closer to family and didn’t like the hassle of teaching and grades. She then went to work in the radiation therapy department as the medical physicist at the Val A. Browning Cancer Treatment Center at St. Benedict’s Hospital, Ogden, Utah, a job she held until her retirement in 1999.
Sister Jean was one of the 11 founding members of Mount Benedict Monastery, Ogden, Utah, in 1994. She served as the financial director for the monastery and was also the monastery’s webmaster and computer network administrator, as well as volunteering at Birthright of Ogden as the group’s treasurer.
She enjoyed mountain climbing, cross-country skiing, and being an amateur photographer. She could name the constellations and the light-years of their distance. She had her own telescope and often invited sisters to view what brought her such delight. It was noted that life in the monastery supported her without strangling her with a tradition of intelligence and reason.
“The more I learn about science, the greater appreciation I have for God and nature. You can’t appreciate nature without the Creator who made it all so beautiful,” Sister Jean Gibson
