Martha Chase
Martha Cowles Chase | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | November 30, 1927 |
| Died | August 8, 2003 (aged 75) Lorain, Ohio, USA |
| Nationality | American |
| Citizenship | United States |
| Alma mater | College of Wooster, University of Southern California |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Genetics |
Martha Cowles Chase (November 30, 1927 – August 8, 2003), also known as Martha C. Epstein,[1] was an American geneticist known for having experimentally showed in 1952 (with Alfred Hershey) that DNA rather than protein is the genetic material of life.
Early Life and Education[change | change source]
Chase was born in 1927 in Cleveland, Ohio. In 1950 she received her bachelor's degree from the College of Wooster. In 1964 Chase received her PhD from the University of Southern California.[2]
Research and Later Life[change | change source]
In 1952 Chase was a young laboratory assistant to American bacteriophage expert Alfred Hershey at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory at the Carnegie Institution for Science. This was where the well-known Hershey-Chase experiment was performed. The experiment , otherwise known as the 'blender experiment' showed that it was DNA, and not protein, that was the genetic material through which traits were inherited.[3]
A series of personal setbacks through the 1960s ended Chase's career in science.[1] She spent decades suffering from a form of dementia that affected her short-term memory.[4] She died of pneumonia on August 8, 2003, at the age of 75.[1]
Key paper[change | change source]
- Hershey, A. D. and Martha Chase. "Independent Functions of Viral Protein and Nucleic Acid in Growth of Bacteriophage." J. Gen. Physiol., 36 (1): 39-56. September 20, 1952. Archived April 16, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
References[change | change source]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Dawson, Milly (2003-08-20). "Martha Chase dies". The Scientist. Archived from the original on 2005-11-25. Retrieved 2010-09-25.
- ↑ Lavietes, Stuart. "Martha Chase, 75, a Researcher Who Aided in DNA Experiment". The New York Times.
- ↑ David E Sadava; et al, Life: The Science of Biology (Sunderland, MA: Sinauer Associates ; Gordonsville, VA: W.H. Freeman and Co., 2008), p. 235
- ↑ Peter Haugen, Biology: Decade by Decade (New York: Facts On File, 2007), p. 130
Other websites[change | change source]
- Linus Pauling and the race for DNA: Martha Chase Archived 2012-02-05 at the Wayback Machine
- Dawson, Milly. Martha Chase Dies. Archived 2012-03-14 at the Wayback Machine Genome Biology
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