Rebecca Craighill Lancefield
| Born | 1895 |
| Died | 1981 |
Related eponyms
Biography of Rebecca Craighill Lancefield
Rebecca Craighill Lancefield was born Rebecca Price Craighill, the daughter of Colonel William Edward Craighill who was stationed with the US Army Corps of Engineers at Fort Wadsworth, and Mary Wortley Montague Byram. She attended Wellesley College from 1912, graduating in 1916. She was a student of English literature, but attended a course in bacteriology and it was as an undergraduate at Wellesley she became interested in scientific studies. During her last two years here she devoted much of her efforts to obtain a good grounding in chemistry.
Rebecca Craighill then started teaching science and mathematics at Hopkins Hall, a boarding school in Burlington, Vermont. However, she was offered a scholarship at Teacher's College of Columbia University, giving her the opportunity to study in Hans Zinsser’s (1878-1940) Department of Bacteriology at the College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University. When Zinsser went to Europe in 1918 because of World War I, her education continued under Arnold Kent Balls, an enzyme chemist who served as head of the department. That same year, 1918, she received the degree of Master of Arts from Columbia and then married Donald Lancefield, a fellow graduate student at Columbia who was in the famous Department of Genetics – the “Fly Room” – under Thomas Hunt Morgan (1866-1945).
Later that year she joined the Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research as a technical assistant to Oswald Theodore Avery (1877-1955) and Alphonse Raymond. Dochez (1882-1964), commencing her studies of the haemolytic streptococci, known then as Streptococcus haemolyticus.
When Donald Lancefield in 1921 was offered a position at the University of Oregon, she found a position as an instructor in bacteriology at the same university. Later that year the couple returned to New York and Columbia University, Donald Lancefield to join Morgan’s department and Rebecca Lancefield to finish her degree with Zinsser, who accepted her as a candidate for the Ph.D. At this time Homer Fordyce Swift (born 1881) was starting a study of rheumatic fever at the Rockefeller Institute Hospital, and Rebecca Lancefield accepted a position with him. She remained at this Institute for the rest of her professional life.
Lancefield received her Ph.D. in immunology and bacteriology at Columbia University in 1925. She was professor of microbiology at Columbia from 1958 to 1965.
Rebecca Lancefield received many honours, of which these are just a few. 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 only woman to be President of that Association. In 1970 she was elected to the National Academy of Sciences, being honoured for her outstanding research on streptococci and their relation to rheumatic fever. She received the New York Academy of Medicine Medal in April 1973 and in June of 1973 she received the highest recognition from the institution where she spent most of her professional life, The Rockefeller University, which awarded her a Doctor of Science (Honoris Causa) degree.
Rebecca Lancefield never developed much sympathy for the modern feminist's point of view on women in science. She was not enthusiastic about honours that recognized her as the "first woman" to do this or that and preferred those that came without reference to her sex.
Her classification work helped provide the foundation for epidemiological investigations for streptococcal disease worldwide. During World War II Lancefield's laboratory supplied vast quantities of Group A streptococcal sera to the U.S. Armed Forces. She maintained her laboratory activity until a few months before her death.
We thank Paris Lovett and B. Spellerberg for information submitted.
Bibliography
- R. Dochez, O. T. Avery and R. C. Lancefield:
Studies on the biology of streptococcus. I. Antigenic relationship between strains of Streptococcus haemolyticus.
The Journal of Experimental Medicine, New York, 1919, 30:179-213. - R. C. Lancefield and C. W. Metz:
Non-disjunction and the chromosome relationship of Drosophila willistoni. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 1921, 7: 225-229. - R. C. Lancefield and C. W. Metz:
The sex-linked group of mutant characters in Drosophila willistoni.
Am Nat, 1922, 36: 211-241. - R. C. Lancefield:
Antigenic relationships of the nucleo-proteins from the gram-positive cocci. (Abstract)
Proceedings of the Society for Experimental Biology and Medicine, New York, 1924, 22: 109-111. - R. C. Lancefield:
The immunological relationships of Streptococcus viridans and certain of its chemical fractions. I. Serological reactions obtained with anti-bacterial sera.
The Journal of Experimental Medicine, 1925, 42: 377-395. - R. C. Lancefield:
The immunological relationships of Streptococcus viridans and certain of its chemical fractions. II. Serological reactions obtained with anti-nucleoprotein sera.
The Journal of Experimental Medicine, 1925, 42: 397-412. - R. C. Lancefield:
The antigenic complex of Streptococcus haemolyticus. I. Demonstration of a type-specific substance in extracts of Streptococcus haemolyticus.
The Journal of Experimental Medicine, 1928, 47: 91-103. - R. C. Lancefield:
The antigenic complex of Streptococcus haemolyticus. II. Chemical and immunological properties of the protein fractions.
The Journal of Experimental Medicine, 1928, 47: 469-480. - R. C. Lancefield:
The antigenic complex of Streptococcus haemolyticus. III. Chemical and immunological properties of the species-specific substance.
The Journal of Experimental Medicine, 1928, 47: 481-491. - R. C. Lancefield:
The antigenic complex of Streptococcus haemolyticus. IV. Anaphylaxis with two non-type specific fractions.
The Journal of Experimental Medicine, 1928, 47: 843-855. - R. C. Lancefield:
The antigenic complex of Streptococcus haemolyticus. V. Anaphylaxis with the type-specific substance. The Journal of Experimental Medicine, 1928, 47: 857-875. - E. W. Todd and R. C. Lancefield:
Variants of hemolytic streptococci; their relation to type-specific substance, virulence, and toxin. The Journal of Experimental Medicine, 1928, 48:751-761. - R. C. Lancefield and E. W. Todd:
Antigenic differences between matt hemolytic streptococci and their glossy variants.
The Journal of Experimental Medicine, 1928, 48: 769-790. - R. C. Lancefield:
Note on the susceptibility of certain strains of hemolytic streptococcus to a streptococcus bacteriophage.
Proceedings of the Society for Experimental Biology and Medicine, 1932, 30: 169. - R. C. Lancefield:
A serological differentiation of human and other groups of hemolytic streptococci.
The Journal of Experimental Medicine, 1933, 57: 571-595. - R. C. Lancefield:
A serological differentiation of specific types of bovine hemolytic streptococci (Group B).
The Journal of Experimental Medicine, 1934, 59: 441-458. - R. C. Lancefield:
Loss of the properties of hemolysin and pigment formation without change in immunological specificity in a strain of Streptococcus haemolyticus.
The Journal of Experimental Medicine, 1934 59: 459-469. - R. Goodner, R. C. Lancefield, and H. F. Swift:
The serological classification of hemolytic streptococci in relation to epidemiological problems.
The American Journal of the Medical Sciences, 1935, 190: 445-453. (Review) - R. C. Lancefield and R. Hare:
The serological differentiation of pathogenic and non-pathogenic streptococci from parturient women. The Journal of Experimental Medicine, 1935, 61: 335.349. - R. C. Lancefield and H. F. Swift:
The problem of serological classification of haemolytic streptococci.
Proceedings of the 2nd International Congress for Microbiology, 25 July-01 August, 1936, London, pp. 1936-1937. (Abstract) - R. C. Lancefield:
Two serological types of group B hemolytic streptococci with related, but not identical, type-specific substances.
The Journal of Experimental Medicine, 1938, 67: 25-40. - R. C. Lancefield:
A micro-precipitin technic for classifying hemolytic streptococci, and improved methods for producing antisera. Proceedings of the Society for Experimental Biology and Medicine, 1938, 38: 473-478. - G. K. Hirst and R. C. Lancefield:
Antigenic properties of the type-specific substance derived from group A hemolytic streptococci. The Journal of Experimental Medicine, 1939, 69: 425-445. - R. C. Lancefield:
Type-specific antigens, M and T, of matt and glossy variants of group A hemolytic streptococci.
The Journal of Experimental Medicine, 1940, 71: 521-537. - R. C. Lancefield:
The significance of M and T antigens in the cross reactions between certain types of group A hemolytic streptococci.
The Journal of Experimental Medicine, 1940, 71: 539-550. - R. C. Lancefield:
Specific relationship of cell composition to biological activity of hemolytic streptococci. Harvey Lectures 1941, 36: 251. - H. F. Swift, A. T. Wilson, and R. C. Lancefield:
Typing group A hemolytic streptococci by M precipitin reaction in capillary pipettes.
The Journal of Experimental Medicine, 1943, 78: 127133. - R. C. Lancefield:
Studies on the antigenic composition of group A hemolytic streptococci. I. Effects of proteolytic enzymes on streptococcal cells.
The Journal of Experimental Medicine, 1943, 78: 465476. - R. C. Lancefield and W. A. Stewart:
Studies on the antigenic composition of group A hemolytic streptococci. II. The occurrence of strains in a given type containing M but no T antigen.
The Journal of Experimental Medicine, 1944, 79: 79-88. - R. C. Lancefield and R. F. Watson:
Studies on the antigenic composition of group A hemolytic streptococci. III. Types with serologically identical M but distinct T antigens types 10 and 12.
The Journal of Experimental Medicine, 1944, 79: 89-98. - R. C. Lancefield, W. A. Stewart, A. T. Wilson and H. F. Swift:
Studies on the antigenic composition of group A hemolytic streptococci. IV. Related T but distinct M antigens in types 15, 17, 23, 30 and in types 4, 24, 26, 28, 29 and 46. Identification by slide agglutination.
The Journal of Experimental Medicine, 1944, 79: 99-114. - R. C. Lancefield and H. F. Swift:
Comparison of methods for capillary pipette typing of group A hemolytic streptococci. AAF News Letter, 1945, 2: 25. - R. C. Lancefield and V. P. Dole:
The properties of T antigens extracted from group A hemolytic streptococci.
The Journal of Experimental Medicine, 1946, 84: 449-470. - R. C. Lancefield and G. E. Perlmann:
Preparation and properties of type-specific M antigen isolated from a group A, type I, hemolytic streptococcus.
The Journal of Experimental Medicine, 1952, 96: 72-82. - R. C. Lancefield and G. E. Perlmann:
Preparation and properties of a protein (R antigen) occurring in streptococci of group A, type 28 and in certain streptococci of other serological groups.
The Journal of Experimental Medicine, 1952, 96: 83-97. - R. C. Lancefield:
Cellular constituents of group A streptococci concerned in antigenicity and virulence.
In: Streptococcal Infections, edited by M. McCarty, pp. 3-18. New York: Columbia University Press, 1954. - M. McCarty and R. C. Lancefield:
Variation in the group-specific carbohydrate of group A streptococci. I. Immunochemical studies on the carbohydrates of variant strains.
The Journal of Experimental Medicine, 1955, 102: 11-28. - R. C. Lancefield:
Differentiation of group A streptococci with a common R antigen into three serological types, with special reference to the bactericidal test.
The Journal of Experimental Medicine, 1957, 106: 525-544.. - R. C. Lancefield:
Occurrence of R antigen specific for group A type 3 streptococci.
The Journal of Experimental Medicine, 1958, 108:329-544. - R. C. Lancefield:
Persistence of type specific antibodies in man following infection with group A streptococci.
The Journal of Experimental Medicine, 1959, 110: 271-292. - E. W. Hook, R. R. Wagner, and R. C. Lancefield:
An epizootic in Swiss mice caused by a group A streptococcus, newly designated type 50.
The American Journal of Hygiene, Baltimore, 1960, 72:111-119. - R. F. Watson, G. K. Hirst, and R. C. Lancefield:
Bacteriological studies of cardiac tissues obtained at autopsy from eleven patients dying with rheumatic fever. Arthritis and Rheumatism, 1961, 4: 74. - R. C. Lancefield:
Current knowledge of type specific M antigens of group A streptococci.
The Journal of Immunology, 1962, 89: 307-313. - W. F. Schneider, S. Chapman, V. Schulz, R. M. Krause, and R. C. Lancefield:
Prevention of streptococcal pharyngitis among military personnel and their civilian dependents by mass prophylaxis.
The New England Journal of Medicine, Boston, 1964, 270: 1205. - R. C. Lancefield and E. H. Freimer:
Type-specific polysaccharide antigens of group B streptococci.
The Journal of Hygiene, Cambridge, UK, 1964, 64: 191-202. - R. C. Lancefield:
Current problems in studies of streptococci. (2nd Griffith Memorial Lecture)
The Journal of General Microbiology, London, 1970, 55:161. - Kuttner and R. C. Lancefield:
Unsolved problems of the non-suppurative complications of group A streptococcal infections.
In: Infectious Agents and Host Reactions, edited by Stuart Mudd, pp. 174-196. Philadelphia: W.B. Saunders Co., 1970. - R. C. Lancefield, J. Rotta, R. M. Krause, W. Everly and H. Lackland:
New approaches for the laboratory recognition of M types of group A strptococci.
The Journal of Experimental Medicine, 1971, 134: 1298-1315. - R. C. Lancefield, M. McCarty and W. Everly:
Multiple mouse-protective antibodies directed against group B streptococci. Special reference to antibodies effective against protein antigens.
The Journal of Experimental Medicine, 1975, 142: 165-179. - R. C. Lancefield, S. D. Elliott and M. McCarty:
Teichoic acids of group D streptococci with special reference to strain from pig meningitis (Streptococcus suis).
The Journal of Experimental Medicine, 1977, 145: 490-499. - R. C. Lancefield, J. Y. Tai and E. C. Gotschlich:
Isolation of type-soecific polusaccharide antigen from group B type Ib streptococci.
The Journal of Experimental Medicine, 1979, 149: 58-66. - Elizabeth M. O'Hern:
Rebecca Craighill Lancefield, Pioneer Microbiologist.
National Institute of General Medical Sciences, Bethesda, Maryland 20014. - Maclyn McCarty:
Rebecca Creighill Lancefield. January 5, 1895–March 3, 1981.
Biographical memoirs, 1987, 57: 226-246.