Other Women Chemists

Laycock was succeeded in 1916 as Demonstrator in Chemistry by May Williams.73 Williams, born on 7 May 1886, was the daughter of Ralph Williams, minister of Maida Vale, London. She was educated at Notting Hill High School (a GPDSC school), and then obtained a B.Sc. in Chemistry at RHC. Williams was first appointed to the rank of Demonstrator, and then was promoted to Senior Demonstrator in 1920 and to Assistant Lecturer in 1921, the year she received her M.Sc. degree. She retired in 1946. 

Another graduate of UCL, Anne Ratcliffe,74 followed Sanderson in her appointments. Ratcliffe was born in 1896 in London, and completed her B.Sc. degree in chemistry in 1924. Her appointment as Demonstrator in Chemistry at the LSMW commenced in 1929, with her promotions being a few years behind those of Sanderson Senior Demonstrator in 1940 (a year after obtaining her M.Sc. degree) Assistant Lecturer in 1945 Lecturer in 1947 and finally, Senior Lecturer in 1949. 

So much has been forgotten of the early history of the London women s colleges. The initial role of Queen s College has been overlooked, in part by its relegation to high school status by its blinkered and conservative administrators. With Bedford now 

Just as the memory of the women chemists of Bedford and Royal Holloway Colleges have been forgotten, so has the important role of the London School of Medicine for Women prior to its absorption into the Royal Free Hospital. Not only did it provide a reliable conduit for the education of women doctors, but its chemistry department employed a series of talented women, a significant proportion of the chemistry graduates of RHC. 

(1972). A History of Queen s College, London 1848-1972. Chatto Windus, London. 

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Mistress of Huddersfield Municipal High School in 1908. She moved south in 1913, taking a position as Chemistry Mistress at Clapham High School (a GPDSC school). Like so many other women chemists (see Chap. 12), Marshall started war work in 1916, in her case, with the National Physical Laboratory (NPL) as a Scientific Research Assistant, where she stayed for the remainder of her working life. 

A memorable event in this period was the visit of the British Association for the Advancement of Science to Leicester in 1933. It was the custom at that time for the Sectional Dinner to be open only to male members, and this custom fell particularly unfairly on women chemists. With characteristic energy and hospitality, Mrs. (later Lady) Robinson arranged a dinner party at the same time as the Sectional Dinner, in the same hotel and with the same menu, to which she invited other women chemists as well as wives of the sectional officers and of other prominent members. This bold action finally broke down the practice of restricting the dinner to men, and at all meetings of the British Association subsequent to 1933 the dinners of Section B have been graced by the presence of ladies.01... 

Some months ago a leading firm telephoned the Secretary of one of the Colleges of London University and asked her to recommend an experienced woman chemist. We have an immediate vacancy, said the voice at the other end of the telephone. 

Where we have documentation, the women chemists readily acknowledge their appreciation of their supervisors, such as biochemist F. Gowland Hopkins (see Chap. 8), for allowing them to follow their chosen path in an environment where other prominent male chemists refused to countenance a woman student. 

Chapter 2 is the first chapter in which individual biographies of women chemists appear. We have endeavoured to place each biography in the most relevant narrative. In some cases, this is in the chapter of the institution from which the woman graduated in others, where she undertook research or became employed in others, in the context of her speciality or time frame. Where possible, we have cross-referenced the biographical accounts to linking locations in other chapters. 

Borrowman was active with the Association of Women Pharmacists from its founding. In 1924, she was the first woman to be invited onto the Board of Examiners of the Pharmaceutical Society, an appointment she held until 1937. She was also elected President of the South-West London Chemists Association. Among other activities, she helped compile Pharmacopedia with Edmund White and John Humphrey.58... 

Rosalyn Yalow, coinventor with Solomon Berson of the sensitive radioimmunoassay analytical procedure used in medicine and biology, passed away during the writing of this book. In 1977, she became only the second woman to receive the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine. Berson should have shared that prize, but he died in 1972 and the prize is not awarded posthumously. Radioimmunoassay is an example of a tremendously important contribution to chemical analysis made by someone other than an analytical chemist. ... 

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