Martha Chase

Martha Cowles Chase
[[File: Martha Chase |225px|alt=]]
Born	November 30, 1927 Cleveland Heights, Ohio, USA
Died	August 8, 2003 Lorain, Ohio, USA
Residence	USA
Citizenship	USA
Nationality	USA
Fields	Genetics
Alma mater	College of Wo, University of Southern California

Martha Cowles Chase (November 30, 1927 – August 8, 2003), also known as Martha C. Epstein,^[1] was an American geneticist famously known for being a member of the 1952 team which experimentally showed that DNA rather than protein is the genetic material of life. She was greatly respected as a geneticist. Chase was born in 1927 in Cleveland, Ohio. In 1950 she received her bachelor's degree from The College of Wooster and in 1964 her PhD from the University of Southern California.

In 1952 she was a young laboratory assistant to American bacteriophage expert Alfred Hershey at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory from the University of Southern California. This was where the well-known Hershey-Chase experiment was performed. A series of personal setbacks through the 1960s ended her career in science.^[1] She spent decades suffering from a form of dementia that robbed her of short-term memory. She died of pneumonia on August 8, 2003, at the age of 75.^[1]

Key paper

• 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.

References

1. ^ ^{a b c} Dawson, Milly (2003-08-20). "Martha Chase dies". The Scientist. http://www.the-scientist.com/news/20030820/03/. Retrieved 2010-09-25. 

External links

• Linus Pauling and the race for DNA: Martha Chase
• Dawson, Milly. Martha Chase Dies. Genome Biology 2003, 4:spotlight-20030820-01 doi:10.1186/gb-spotlight-20030820-01.

Persondata
Name	Chase, Martha
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	November 30, 1927
Place of birth	Cleveland Heights, Ohio, USA
Date of death	August 8, 2003
Place of death	Lorain, Ohio, USA