Iris M. Ovshinsky was the co-founder of ECD Ovonics with her husband Stanford R. Ovshinsky, and served as Vice President from its founding in 1960 until her death.

Born Iris L. Miroy in New York

New York

New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

, she earned a bachelor's degree in zoology

Zoology

Zoology |zoölogy]]), is the branch of biology that relates to the animal kingdom, including the structure, embryology, evolution, classification, habits, and distribution of all animals, both living and extinct...

 from Swarthmore College

Swarthmore College

Swarthmore College is a private, independent, liberal arts college in the United States with an enrollment of about 1,500 students. The college is located in the borough of Swarthmore, Pennsylvania, 11 miles southwest of Philadelphia....

 in 1947, master's degree in biology

Biology

Biology is a natural science concerned with the study of life and living organisms, including their structure, function, growth, origin, evolution, distribution, and taxonomy. Biology is a vast subject containing many subdivisions, topics, and disciplines...

 from the University of Michigan

University of Michigan

The University of Michigan is a public research university located in Ann Arbor, Michigan in the United States. It is the state's oldest university and the flagship campus of the University of Michigan...

 in 1950, and doctorate in biochemistry

Biochemistry

Biochemistry, sometimes called biological chemistry, is the study of chemical processes in living organisms, including, but not limited to, living matter. Biochemistry governs all living organisms and living processes...

 in 1960 from Boston University

Boston University

Boston University is a private research university located in Boston, Massachusetts. With more than 4,000 faculty members and more than 31,000 students, Boston University is one of the largest private universities in the United States and one of Boston's largest employers...

.

Prior to marrying Mr. 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 is a prolific inventor, credited with inventing the nickel metal hydride battery

Nickel metal hydride battery

A nickel–metal hydride cell, abbreviated NiMH, is a type of rechargeable battery similar to the nickel–cadmium cell. The NiMH battery uses a hydrogen-absorbing alloy for the negative electrode instead of cadmium. As in NiCd cells, the positive electrode is nickel oxyhydroxide...

, and amorphous materials

Amorphous solid

In condensed matter physics, an amorphous or non-crystalline solid is a solid that lacks the long-range order characteristic of a crystal....

 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, Mr. Ovshinsky said she was a partner in everything they did, "a colleague and collaborator in my scientific activity. She's just too damn modest."
For instance, she helped him found their company Energy Conversion Devices.

Mrs. Ovshinsky shortly appears in Who Killed the Electric Car?

Who Killed the Electric Car?

Who Killed the Electric Car? is a 2006 documentary film that explores the creation, limited commercialization, and subsequent destruction of the battery electric vehicle in the United States, specifically the General Motors EV1 of the mid 1990s...

documentary film that 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.