Mary Peters Fieser
Mary Peters Fieser | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | May 27, 1909 Atchison, Kansas, US |
| Died | March 22, 1997 (aged 87) |
| Nationality | American |
| Alma mater | Bryn Mawr College, US; Radcliffe College, US |
| Known for | synthesizing vitamin K; writing organic chemistry textbooks |
| Spouse | Louis Fieser (1932–1977) |
| Awards | Garvan–Olin Medal (1971) |
Mary Peters Fieser (May 27, 1909 – March 22, 1997) was an American chemist best known for the many books she wrote with her husband Louis Fieser.
Biography
She was born Mary Peters in 1909 in
It was at Bryn Mawr that Mary Peters met her future husband, a professor of chemistry who became her mentor. When Louis Fieser left Bryn Mawr in 1930 to join the faculty at Harvard University, Mary Peters decided to follow him and pursue an advanced degree in chemistry. She had to officially enroll at nearby Radcliffe College in order to take chemistry courses at Harvard and could not escape the gender discrimination of her era.[1] One professor of analytical chemistry in particular, Gregory Baxter, would not allow her in the laboratory with the male students: rather, she had to carry out her experiments (without supervision) in the deserted basement of a nearby building.[2] She was awarded a Radcliffe M.A. in chemistry in 1936, but decided not to pursue a Ph.D.: "I could see I was not going to get along well on my own, [but as Mrs. Fieser] I could do as much chemistry as I wanted."[3]
Mary Peters married her mentor in 1932, and their scientific collaboration continued until Louis Fieser's death in 1977.[1] Their early research together focused on the chemistry of quinones[4] and steroids,[5] and they developed syntheses of Vitamin K, cortisone, and the antimalarial compound lapinone.[6] However the Fiesers were best known for their numerous books. Their first joint textbook, Organic Chemistry (1944),[7][8] became very successful and influential on both sides of the Atlantic because of the originality in the presentation of the material, and went through many editions. In 1967 the Fiesers began to publish Reagents for Organic Synthesis and produced six volumes before Louis Fieser's death:[9] Mary continued the project with collaborators.[10] They also published a Style Guide for Chemists in 1959,[11] as well as a seminal monograph on Steroids the same year.[12]
Fieser never had a paid position at Harvard, although she received the title of Research Fellow of Chemistry about twenty-nine years after she began work there.
Mary Fieser died on March 22, 1997, in Belmont, Massachusetts.[14] She never had children, but was always surrounded by cats, illustrations of which found their way into the prefaces of many of her books.
References
- ^ a b c d e "Louis Fieser and Mary Fieser", Science History Institute, retrieved 21 March 2018.
- ISBN 0-8412-3522-8
- .
- .
- PMID 18891824.
- ^ Fieser, Louis F.; Fieser, Mary (1944), Organic Chemistry, Boston, Mass.: D. C. Heath, 1091 pp.
- . (book review)
- ISBN 0-471-25873-3.
- ISBN 0-471-00074-4.
- ^ Fieser, Louis F.; Fieser, Mary (1960), Style Guide for Chemists, New York: Reinhold.
- ISBN 0-278-91709-7, 964 pp.
- ^ Francis P. Garvan-John M. Olin Medal, Recipients, American Chemical Society
- ^ a b "Mary Fieser, Researcher, Writer in Organic Chemistry, Dies at Age 87", Harvard University Gazette, March 27, 1997
- ^ "Chemistry Department creates Fieser Fellowship". Harvard Gazette. 2008-02-07. Retrieved 2018-06-02.
Further reading
- Shearer, Benjamin F.; Shearer, Barbara Smith (1997). Notable women in the physical sciences : a biographical dictionary. Westport, Conn: Greenwood Press. OCLC 433367323.
