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    A Wave of Women Chemists: Mary Elvira Weeks and Her University of Kansas Colleagues

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    Neeley_2021_Wave_of_Women_Chemists.pdf (1.944Mb)
    Issue Date
    2021-06-29
    Author
    Neeley, Kathleen L.
    Neeley, James D.
    Publisher
    Division of the History of Chemistry, American Chemical Society
    Type
    Article
    Article Version
    Scholarly/refereed, publisher version
    Published Version
    http://acshist.scs.illinois.edu/bulletin/bull21-vol46-1.php
    Rights
    Copyright 2021, Division of the History of Chemistry, American Chemical Society
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    Abstract
    Between 1911 and 1944, a total of 13 women served, at various times, on the chemistry faculty of the University of Kansas. Yet after the last of these appointments was made, in 1935, no other woman was hired for nearly 40 years. This “wave” offers a case study of a period the Rayner-Canhams call “the dawn and dusk of an era.” It centered on the 1920s, “a zenith for academic women,” including those in science, “a level of attainment that was not to be reached again until well into the second half of the twentieth century.”

    The most notable of the early women chemists was Mary Elvira Weeks, author of Discovery of the Elements. In 1927, she and her colleague Selma Gottlieb became the first two women to earn PhDs and be appointed assistant professors of chemistry at the University of Kansas. Soon thereafter, Ethel Ann Jones became the third.

    Why did these 13 daughters of farmers, tradesmen and shopkeepers make the unlikely decision to go to college and study chemistry? How did personal choices shape their professional lives? And what became of them along the way? Half had long careers in chemistry, several achieved distinction, and one became famous. They prospered at the University of Kansas, in the Rayner-Canhams’ words, from a “collaborative, supportive” atmosphere and a “woman-friendly” environment.
    URI
    http://hdl.handle.net/1808/31715
    Collections
    • Libraries Scholarly Works [510]
    Citation
    Neeley, Kathleen L. and Neeley, James D., “A Wave of Women Chemists: Mary Elvira Weeks and Her University of Kansas Colleagues,” Bulletin for the History of Chemistry, 2021, 46 (1), 108–133.

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    KU Libraries
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    785-864-8983

    KU Libraries
    1425 Jayhawk Blvd
    Lawrence, KS 66045
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    Contact KU ScholarWorks
    785-864-8983
    KU Libraries
    1425 Jayhawk Blvd
    Lawrence, KS 66045
    785-864-8983

    KU Libraries
    1425 Jayhawk Blvd
    Lawrence, KS 66045
    Image Credits
     

     

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