Background
Britton Chance was born on July 24, 1913 in Wilkes Barre, Pennsylvania, United States, the son of Edwin M. and Eleanor (Kent) Chance.
biophysicist educator scientist
Britton Chance was born on July 24, 1913 in Wilkes Barre, Pennsylvania, United States, the son of Edwin M. and Eleanor (Kent) Chance.
Chance finished the University of Pennsylvania with Bachelor of Science degree in 1935, with Master of Science degree in 1936, with Doctor of Philosophy degree in 1940. He entered the University of Cambridge and get Doctor of Philosophy degree from it in 1942, Doctor of Science degree in 1952. The next university which he entered was the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden, he finished it with Doctor of Medicine degree in 1962.
Chance was a biochemist and biophysicist in E. R. Johnson Foundation, and at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia as acting director from 1940 to 1941. During World War II, Chance worked for the Radiation Laboratory at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology which was working on the development of radar. Britton Chance held the position of an assistant professor of biophysics and physical biochemistry at the University of Pennsylvania from 1941 till 1949, he became a professor in 1947, and a director in 1949, holding this position for almost 35 years. Simultaneously he was a chairperson of department of biophysics and physical chemistry from 1949 till 1975. In the Massachusetts Institute of Technology he became head of Precision Components Group and an associate head of Receiver Components Division.
He was a member of American Association for the Advancement of Science, National Academy of Sciences, Harvey Society, Argentine National Academy of Sciences, Bavarian Academy Sciences, Royal Academy Arts & Sciences (Sweden), Royal Swedish Academy Sciences.
Chance married Jane Earle on March 4, 1938. This couple divorced. They had 2 children: Eleanor and Britton. He married Lilian Streeter Lucas in November 1956. They also divorced. They had 4 children: Margaret, Lilian, Benjamin, and Samuel. Finally, he married Shoko Nioka in February 2010. They had 2 children: Jan and Peter. Britton Chance also had stepchildren: Ann Lucas, Gerald B. Lucas, A. Brooke Lucas, and William C. Lucas.