Background
Lancefield, Rebecca Craighill was born on January 5, 1895 in Fort Wadsworth, New York, United States. Daughter of William Edward and Mary Wortley Montague (Byram) Craighill.
microbiologist university professor
Lancefield, Rebecca Craighill was born on January 5, 1895 in Fort Wadsworth, New York, United States. Daughter of William Edward and Mary Wortley Montague (Byram) Craighill.
Bachelor of Arts, Wellesley College, 1916, Honorary Doctor of Science, 1976. Master of Arts, Columbia University, 1918, Doctor of Philosophy, 1925. Honorary Doctor of Science, Rockefeller University, 1973.
She joined the Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research in New York in 1918, and was associated with that institute throughout her long and outstanding career. Her bibliography comprises more than 50 publications published over 60 years. She is best known for her serological classification of beta-hemolytic streptococcal bacteria, Lancefield grouping, which is based on the carbohydrate composition of bacterial antigens found on their cell walls.
She is also responsible for the serological typing of Group A Streptococci.
Typing classification is based on the M protein found on the group A bacterium"s surface. She was born at Fort Wadsworth, Staten Island, New New York
She had five sisters. She was educated at Wellesley College, Massachusetts and Columbia University, New New York
At Columbia, she received her Doctor of Philosophy in 1925.
Eventually, she became professor of microbiology at Columbia University from 1958-1965. In 1943, she was the second woman to become president of the Society of American Bacteriologists. In 1961, she became president of the American Association of Immunologists, the first woman to be president of that Association.
She was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 1970.
In 1973, she was awarded an honorary Doctor of Science by Columbia University. Doctor Lancefield"s recipe for eggnog has been used by her fellow scientists for decades and was published on Science Friday in 2008.
In 1980 on Thanksgiving Day, Lancefield broke her hip and was not able to fully regain her mobility. She died the following year in 1981 aged 86.
Member, 1942-1958.
Married Donald East. Lancefield, May 27, 1918.