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Meet Dr. Marie Maynard Daly!

Marie Maynard Daly was born April 16, 1921 in Queens, New York. After graduating from Hunter College High School, she went on to enroll in Queens College where


Marie Maynard Daly was born April 16, 1921 in Queens, New York. After graduating from Hunter College High School, she went on to enroll in Queens College where she earned her B.S in Chemistry in 1942. She then went on to attend New York University where she earned her Masters’ degree. Following her Masters', Daly enrolled in the doctoral program at Columbia University after working for a year tutoring chemistry students at Queens College. She also obtained funding from the university to help in her full-time study of chemistry.

At Columbia, she studied under Dr. Mary Caldwell, a pioneering chemist and nutritionist who expanded opportunities for women in the field of chemistry. Daly studied how compounds in the human body affect digestion. The title of her dissertation was "A Study of the Products Formed by the Action of Pancreatic Amylase on Corn Starch". In 1947 Dr. Daly received her Ph.D. in chemistry, becoming the first African-American woman in the U.S. to do so.

After completing her doctoral degree, Daly taught for two years at Howard University in Washington, DC. On receiving a grant from the American Cancer Society to support her postdoctoral research, she joined Alfred E. Mirsky, at the Rockefeller Institute in New York, where she worked on the composition and metabolism of components of the cell nucleus.

Marie Maynard Daly died October 28, 2003.

Marie Maynard Daly." Chemical Heritage Foundation. N.p., 05 Oct. 2016. Web. 31 May 2017.

Marie M. Daly." Biography.com. A&E Networks Television, 02 Apr. 2014. Web. 31 May 2017.

Marie Maynard Daly." American Chemical Society. N.p., n.d. Web. 31 May 2017.


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