Frieda Robscheit-Robbins

Frieda S. Robscheit-Robbins (8 June 1888 – 18 December 1973)^[1][2] was a German-born American pathologist who worked closely with George Hoyt Whipple, conducting research into the use of liver tissue in treatment of pernicious anaemia, co-authoring 21 papers between 1925 and 1930. Whipple received a Nobel Prize in 1934 in recognition of this work, but Robscheit-Robbins was not recognised in this award, although Whipple did share the prize money with her.^[1]

Robscheit-Robbins was described in 1981, as a woman "of considerable presence" who was often seen wearing diamonds and with "elegantly coiffured" hair.^[3]

In 2002, a Discover magazine article entitled "The 50 Most Important Women in Science" noted that the contributions of Robscheit-Robbins "deserve greater notice".^[4]

Early life and education

Born in Germany, Robscheit-Robbins moved to the United States as a child. She obtained her BS from the University of Chicago, her MS from the University of California, and her PhD from the University of Rochester.^[1]

Research

Preliminary research was conducted in the early 1920s at the George William Hooper Foundation, University of California, where apricots were found to be valuable in treating induced anaemia in dogs. This result was so surprising to the researchers that it was not published. However, work continued at the University of Rochester, New York from 1922, where the researchers compared the efficacy of different substances in treatment of anaemia.^[5]

Robscheit-Robbins started working with Whipple in 1917, and was his research partner for 18 years.^[1] She was the first-named author on Whipple's single most important paper, and the first author is usually the one primarily responsible for the work on which the paper is based and in many fields of research the last author is the director of the laboratory or principal investigator responsible for the direction of the work. Of the 23 papers that Whipple cited in his Nobel address, Robscheit-Robbins was co-author of ten of them.^[2]

Personal life

Robscheit-Robbins married O.V. Sprague. She died in December 1973 in Tucson, Arizona, US.^[1]

References

1. "Robscheit-Robbins, Frieda (1888–1973)". Dictionary of Women Worldwide: 25,000 Women Through the Ages. HighBeam. Retrieved 6 March 2014.
2. "Frieda Robscheit-Robbins". Scribd.com. Scribd. Retrieved 6 March 2014.
3. Davenport, HW., George H Whipple, The Physiologist, Vol 24, 2, 1981, p. 2
4. "The 50 Most Important Women in Science". Discover. Kalmbach Publishing Co. Retrieved 6 March 2014.
5. Robscheit-Robbins, F.; Elden, C.A.; Sperry, W.M.; Whipple, G.H. Journal of Biological Sciences 79: 563–576. Missing or empty |title= (help);