Liane Russell
Liane Russell | |
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Conservation Movement |
Liane Brauch "Lee" Russell (August 27, 1923 – July 20, 2019) was an Austrian-born American
Her conservation activities resulted in the protection of many wild and scenic places, especially those near her adopted home of East Tennessee.
Early life
Russell was born as Liane Brauch in 1923 in
She met zoologist William L. Russell during a college summer school program, where he was her mentor. They married and worked together as geneticists at Jackson Laboratory and Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Together they had two children, a son, David "Ace" (b. 1950) and a daughter, Evelyn (b. 1952).
Education
Russell completed her
Her first job was baby sitting while she studied in college; after that she worked as a receptionist in a doctor's office after class.[6]
Career
Russell began her career as a research assistant at
Activism
Russell was also a
In 1992 Russell received the National Parks Conservation Association's (NPCA's) Marjory Stoneman Douglas award.Summary
Liane Brauch Russel was born in 1923 to a Jewish family in Vienna, Austria. Her father was a chemical engineer while her mother taught singing, and she was the oldest out of her two other siblings. As a child, her parents were very encouraging of Liane's inquiring mind and constantly reminded her that girls could do anything boys could do.[12] However, despite her parents' evident kind-heartedness, the world was at a loss for morality during the later years of Liane's childhood. In 1938, Austria was annexed by the Nazis, and due to Liane's Jewish heritage, she and her family were forced to flee Austria to London. Liane and her family lost their house and possessions, and her father even lost his entire business to the Nazi regime. After several years in England, Liane moved to the United States, where she decided to further her education at Hunter College in New York City. She studied chemistry and biology and completed a summer research assistantship at Jackson Laboratory, a biomedical research institution that focuses on studying human biology and genomics.[13] Interestingly enough, through the assistantship, her supervisor, William Russel, a leading geneticist at the time, would later become both Liane's husband and research partner. Upon graduation from Hunter College in 1945, Liane went back to Jackson Laboratory before moving to the University of Chicago to pursue her Ph.D. in Zoology. After initiating her Ph.D., Liane went to work at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee, which played a vital role in the development of nuclear weapons through the Manhattan Project in WWII. Liane was fortunate enough to work alongside her husband, William Russell, as they both had a mission to study the effects of radiation exposure on mice.[12] Mice share various genetic qualities with humans and thus were the perfect test subjects for Liane's radiation experiments. The essential pain point Liane was looking to solve was that the current information surrounding the effects of radiation on congenital disabilities was insufficient and inconclusive. Essentially, Liane was looking to innovate on recent research and prove the harmful effects that radiation can have on humans. Thus, she began researching how radiation affects mice embryos at certain stages in their development.[12] Through this research, Liane discovered a variety of different deformities that would arise within the embryos at different stages of growth. Through Liane's findings, she determined that the most critical time of human gestation is within the first two to six weeks, during which most women do not even know they are pregnant.[12] Both Liane and her husband published a paper describing their findings. The report recommended that women who may be pregnant only receive specific radiological procedures during the two weeks after their last menstrual cycle when they are most likely not pregnant.[12] The paper was published in 1952 and received heavy criticism and controversy from radiologists. However, despite heavy criticism, the innovative research that both Liane and her husband performed became known as the 14-day rule and became a radiological practice accepted in almost every country. And to this day, this innovative rule is still a prominent rule among radiologists internationally. These findings have protected millions of pregnant women from premature radiation procedures that would have had detrimental effects on their pregnancies and children in the 1950s and the present day. Furthermore, Liane has received a variety of awards for her research. She was awarded the Roentgen Medal in 1973, became a member of the National Academy of Sciences in 1986, and received the Enrico Fermi Award from the Department of Energy in 1994.[12] Likewise, the Oak Ridge National Laboratory created the Liane B. Russell Distinguished Early Career Fellowship, a program primarily for minority and female scientists who help them get early exposure to various scientific fields. Inevitably, Liane Russell played a pivotal role in the radiation field and discovered its harmful effects on developing embryos. And her innovative research has been able to save lives and improve the overarching areas of science and medicine both during her life and after.
Awards
- Roentgen Medal, 1973
- Hunter College Hall of Fame, 1979
- Marjory Stoneman Douglas Award, 1992
- Environmental Mutagen SocietyAward, 1993
- Enrico Fermi award in 1993[1]
- National Academy of Sciences, Election Year: 1986.
References
- ^ U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science. Retrieved 17 October 2013.
- ^ a b Emily Langer, "Liane Russell, scientist who put spotlight on danger of X-rays for embryos, dies at 95," The Washington Post, August 23, 2019.
- ISBN 978-0-8379-0833-5.
- ^ "Russell, Liane: Center for Oak Ridge Oral History". Oak Ridge Public Library Digital Collections. 2003-04-23. Retrieved 2013-10-17.
- ^ "Russell, Liane - Interview January 18th - 19th, 2007". Oral History of Human Genetics Project. 2007. Retrieved 2013-10-17.
- ^ a b Alexander, Susan (June 7, 2009). "25 things you don't know about Liane Russell". Knoxville News Sentinel. Archived from the original on 2012-10-03. Retrieved 2013-10-17.
- Tennessee Encyclopedia of History and Culture. Retrieved 2013-10-17.
- ^ "Dr. Liane B. Russell, ORNL". Oak Ridge National Laboratory. 2001-02-16. Archived from the original on 2013-10-17. Retrieved 2013-10-17.
- ^ a b c Katherine Q. Seelye, "Liane Russell, Who Studied Radiation's Effects on Embryos, Dies at 95," The New York Times, August 18, 2019.
- ^ "Dr. Liane Russell". River Network. Retrieved 2013-10-17.
- ^ Russell, Liane B. "Introducing TCWP - past, present, and future". Tennessee Citizens for Wilderness Planning. Archived from the original on 2013-12-09. Retrieved 2014-02-25.
- ^ a b c d e f Magazine, Smithsonian; Katz, Brigit. "Remembering Liane Russell, the Geneticist Who Studied Radiation's Harmful Effects on Embryos". Smithsonian Magazine. Retrieved 2022-04-14.
- .
External links
- Liane B. Russell, ORNL Corporate Fellow
- Dr. Liane B. Russell, Oak Ridge National Laboratory
- Liane B. Russell. National Academy of Sciences, Member Directory.
- Tennessee Citizens for Wilderness Planning
- Liane Russell's Interview (Oral History), Voices of the Manhattan Project