Science is one of the great unifiers in the world. No matter who you are or where you come from, science remains fact across the globe. It is the universality of science that makes the histories of famous scientists so intriguing for those interested in scientific philosophy and research. Visit any bookstore around the globe and you’ll be sure to find countless volumes on the lives of Isaac Newton and Albert Einstein, with facts ranging from their place of birth to their favorite meals. Some scientists, however, remain an enigma to history, the details of their lives lost to the ages. One such person is trailblazing chemist Marie Maynard Daly. While Daly’s contributions to the discipline are unmatched, her own personal story is now lost to history.
Daly was born in Queens, New York in 1921. In her 20s, Daly attended Columbia University and received a PhD in chemistry in 1947. Her achievement made her the first African American woman to ever receive the honor. Daly published her work in science journals from 1949 to 1985, and it is from these sources that historians have learned the most about her life.
As a young researcher in the 1950s, Daly worked at New York City’s Rockefeller Institute under the famed biochemists Alfred Mirsky and Vincent Allfrey. It was in her position as a researcher at the Rockefeller Institute that Daly proved that RNA was a key part of protein synthesis. Daly’s discovery was later referenced by James Watson in his lecture after receiving the Nobel Prize for developing the double-helix DNA model. Daly’s other research at the Rockefeller Institute focused on divergent nitrogeneous bases in DNA and RNA and the identification of histones. In a study conducted with Columbia University researcher Quentin Deming, Daly studied heart attacks, eventually arriving at the conclusion that cholesterol is a major factor in cardiac distress.
After working at the Rockefeller Institute, Daly accepted a position at Yeshiva University’s Albert Einstein College of Medicine, which is also located in New York City. As a researcher at Albert Einstein, Daly focused her studies on high blood pressure. Eventually, Daly and her colleagues proved a positive correlation between clogged arteries and heart attacks. The research changed the way doctors approached cardiac health and put a greater emphasis on diet when it came to patients with heart disease. Daly also studied the effects of cigarette smoking on the lungs, noting how chronic cigarette smoking could lead to lesions on the vital organ. While mostly focusing on research at Albert Einstein, Daly was also a popular professor at the college, where she taught classes on biochemistry. As a professor, Daly also encouraged women and people of color to enroll in graduate and doctoral programs, feeling that her example was greatly important to the next generation. Daly stayed at Albert Einstein until she retired in 1986.
After her retirement, Daly still championed on behalf of minority students. In 1988, Daly founded a scholarship for low-income students at Queen’s College in Flushing, New York, where she had earned her Bachelor’s degree decades before. Daly died in 2003 at the age of 82. While Daly married, her husband predeceased her and the two never had any children.
As previously stated, despite the large wealth of information on the career of Daly and her great contributions to scientific research, very little is known of her personal life. Among the limited facts on Daly’s personal history is that her father, Ivan C. Daly, was an immigrant from the West Indies. Although Ivan enrolled at Cornell University to study chemistry, he was never able to get enough money for tuition and supported his family as a worker in the United States Postal Service. Along with her father’s example, Daly was also reportedly interested in studying chemistry after reading the 1926 novel Microbe Hunters by Paul de Kruif as a young person. Abraham White, a member of the faculty at Albert Einstein, further revealed more information on Daly in a letter he wrote recommending her for promotion from 1970. In this letter, which is one of the few primary sources to speak on Daly personally, White describes Daly as a leader and lauded her contribution to the college’s research programs.
Although not much information survives on Daly’s personal life, those with an interest in biochemistry can still look to her example of dedication and hard work in starting their own careers. In order to assure that the histories of scientists are not lost in the future, scholars at the Center for Oral History at the Science History Institute have made it their mission to tell the stories of those who made contributions to scientific fields and inspire future generations of those interested in science and engineering. David Caruso, who heads the organization, says that particular emphasis is being placed on recording the life stories of women and minority members of the scientific community. Due to the institute’s work, students of the next generation will see the people behind the facts presented in their textbooks and, in doing so, will be able to see themselves in scientific pursuits.