The Independent Wife-Chemist

A small number of married women chemists forged a path independent of their nonchemist spouse. In Chap. 4, we described the life and work of Margaret Seward, who continued university teaching even after marriage and the birth of her son. In crystallography (see Chap. 9), Dorothy Crowfoot and Kathleen Yardley were both very fortunate in their choice of academic husbands who took over much of the parenting role to allow their famous wives to continue research. In biochemistry, Helen Archbold (see Chap. 3) was also a true independent.  

The research relationship between the married biochemists Dorothy Moyle (see Chap. 8) and Joseph Needham could better be described as autonomous rather than independent, as their research overlapped to a significant extent. We will see below that the descriptor autonomous also fits the research profile of Gertrude Walsh with Robert Robinson. Finally, Muriel Wheldale s collaboration with Huia Onslow (see Chap. 8) might be considered farther along the collaborative spectrum as semi-autonomous. Nevertheless, most active women spouse-chemists were part of a collaborative couple. 

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