Stephenson, Marjory

Thauei R. K. (1998) Biochemistry of methanogenesis A tribute to marjory Stephenson. Microbiology, 144, 2377-406. 

Thauer RK. 1998. Biochemistry of methanogenesis a tribute to Marjory Stephenson Microbiology 144 2377 06. 

I think the strongest claim is that of Dr Marjory Stephenson who was the first person in the world to do work on bacterial metabolism as exact as that on mammalian metabolism, and who has continued to do good work in this field, discovering, for example, a number of new enzymes, in particular those dealing with the production and consumption of hydrogen. Another possibility is Honor B. Fell whose work on tissue culture has certainly been pretty good, but I do not think her claim is as strong as that of Stephenson.97... 

By 1921, her original work on proteins led to an invitation to join the British Leather Manufacturers Research Association, a move which, according to Marjory Stephenson, probably robbed this country of a distinguished professor of biochemistry. 59(a) As a final contribution to her original research field, Jordan Lloyd wrote the classic work The Chemistry of Proteins, published in 1926, for which Hopkins wrote the introduction (a second edition, co-authored with Agnes Shore, appeared in 1938).60... 

Letter, Marjory Stephenson to Sydney Elsden, 9 November 1948, Newnham College Archives. 

Some women chemists and biochemists were assigned to more traditional women s roles. The bacterial biochemist, Marjory Stephenson (Chap. 8), spent the war as a nurse.55 She left her research position at University College, London, to join the British Red Cross in France and then Salonika. In Salonika, she was in charge of a nurses convalescent home and also had responsibilities for invalid diets. She was mentioned in dispatches in 1917 and was awarded an M.B.E. for her war work. 

Smedley was not the only one to be chosen as the expectation for a woman chemist or biochemist. A 1929 article in the Journal of Careers18 held up Martha Whiteley (Chap. 3) as a role model while an article in the same journal in 193819 extolled Ida Smedley (Chap. 2), Marjory Stephenson (Chap. 8), Katherine Coward (see below), and particularly Dorothy Jordan Lloyd (Chap. 8) as the heights of careers to which women chemists and biochemists could aspire — but only those who were exceptional. 

Marjory Stephenson and Leonard Stickland named the enzyme in 1931 (Stephenson and Stickland, 1931). There are five types of hydrogenase. Three of these are Ni proteins and one contains iron as the only transition metal. These proteins catalyze the reversible oxidation of dihydrogen gas (Eq. 7). A fifth class of hydrogenase lacks metals and catalyzes Eq. 8, but not Eq. 7. The Ni enzymes are classed into the NiFe, the NiFeSe, and the hydrogen sensors. All of these enzymes are bidirectional, although different enzymes exhibit a catalytic bias toward making or oxidizing H2. 

Thauer R. K. (1998) Biochemistry of methanogenesis a tribute to Marjory Stephenson. Microbiology 144, Till-2406. Tolbert N. E. (1994) Role of photosynthesis and photorespiration in regulating atmospheric CO2 and O2. In Regulation of Atmospheric CO2 and O2 by Photosynthetic Carbon Metabolism (eds. N. E. Tolbert and J. Preiss). Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp. 8-33. 

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