Mary L. Caldwell

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Mary Letitia Caldwell (born December 18, 1890 in Bogotá , Colombia , † July 1, 1972 in Fishkill , New York ) was an American biochemist.

Life

Mary Letitia Caldwell was born in Bogotá on December 18, 1890, the daughter of Milton Etsil and Susanna Caldwell, née Adams . Her father was a missionary for the Episcopal Church of the United States of America in Colombia at the time . The family's five children grew up in Bogotá and the family returned to the United States in the early 20th century . From 1909 Mary L. Caldwell attended the Western College for Women in Oxford , Ohio . She graduated with a bachelor's degree in 1913 and worked for the next five years as a college teacher and later as an assistant professor of chemistry. In 1918 she went to Henry C. Sherman at Columbia University in New York City , where she earned her master's degree in 1919 and her doctorate in biochemistry in 1921 . She then stayed at the university and worked here for the next four decades until her retirement in 1959 at the chemistry faculty. Starting as a teacher and later as an assistant professor of chemistry, she became a professor in 1948 and was the only woman in that position at Columbia University at the time.

Mary L. Caldwell studied starch degrading amylases . In the 1920s and 1930s she developed processes for the purification of enzymes , which have been used as standard processes in this field since the 1940s. They produced the first pancreatic amylase of the pig (porcine pancreatic amylase) in crystalline form. She showed that the amylases are proteins and that the α-amylases obtained from different sources differ in their mechanism of action. For her work, she was awarded the Garvan Olin Medal of the American Chemical Society in 1960 .

literature

  • Elizabeth H. Oakes: Encyclopedia of World Scientists. Revised Edition, Facts On File, 2007, ISBN 978-1438118826 , p. 109 f.
  • Marilyn Ogilvie, Joy Harvey: Biographical Dictionary of Women in Science: Pioneering Lives From Ancient Times to the Mid-20th Century. Routledge, 2000, ISBN 978-1135963439 , pp. 448 f.
  • Soraya Svoronos: Mary Letitia Caldwell (1890–1972). In: Louise S. Grinstein, Rose K. Rose, Miriam H. Rafailovich (Eds.): Women in Chemistry and Physics. Greenwood Press, Westport, CT 1993, ISBN 0-313-27382-0 , pp. 72-76.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Marilyn Ogilvie, Joy Harvey: Biographical Dictionary of Women in Science: Pioneering Lives From Ancient Times to the Mid-20th Century. Routledge, 2000, pp. 448 f.
  2. ↑ a b c Soraya Svoronos: Mary Letitia Caldwell (1890–1972). In: Louise S. Grinstein, Rose K. Rose, Miriam H. Rafailovich (Eds.): Women in Chemistry and Physics. Greenwood Press, Westport, CT 1993, pp. 72-76.
  3. ^ A b Elizabeth H. Oakes: Encyclopedia of World Scientists. Revised Edition, Facts On File, 2007, p. 109 f.
personal data
SURNAME Caldwell, Mary L.
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Caldwell, Mary Letitia (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American chemist (organic chemistry)
DATE OF BIRTH December 18, 1890
PLACE OF BIRTH Bogotá , Colombia
DATE OF DEATH July 1, 1972
Place of death Fishkill , New York