Martin Kamen is not a household name today, but his synthesis of Carbon 14 in February 1940 was the first of many achievements in his long career as a chemist. In 1944, Kamen, a chemist in the new field of radiochemistry, worked for the Manhattan Project at Berkeley Radiation Laberatory and Oak Ridge, Tennessee. The [Read more]
Becker Library recently received a small collection of papers from the estate of Teresa J. Vietti (1927-2010), emeritus professor of pediatrics at Washington University School of Medicine and pioneering scientist in the field of pediatric oncology. Vietti completed her residency training at St. Louis Children’s Hospital before spending two years as a hematology/oncology fellow in [Read more]
What do you do when you come down with a cold or an upset stomach? Most of us probably go to the nearest pharmacy to pick up an assortment of pills, syrups or sprays; or if it’s a mild case, we might just make tea with plenty of honey. But no matter what route we [Read more]
Margaret Gladys Smith, MD, was the first woman to head a department at Washington University School of Medicine, serving as the de facto chair of the Department of Pathology after the sudden death of Howard A. McCordock, MD, in November 1938. Until the appointment of a new chair in July 1939, Smith led the department [Read more]
Becker Library is pleased to announce a partnership with the University of California San Francisco’s Industry Documents Library to provide online access to the Robert E. Shank Papers. Over 100,000 pages from Becker Library Archives’ Robert E. Shank Papers were digitized for this project. The files are included as part of the Food Industry Documents [Read more]
March is Women’s History Month! To celebrate, we’re taking a look at one of the most celebrated female authors in our collection: Mary Wollstonecraft. Wollstonecraft’s literary career began in 1787, when she arrived in London following failed ventures as a governess and schoolmistress. She quickly became friends with the liberal publisher Joseph Johnson, a relationship [Read more]
The 19th amendment to the constitution gave women the right to vote. Suffragists had cause to rejoice when it passed both houses of Congress in May and June 1919. Carol Skinner Cole (1888-1932) and Aphrodite Maria Jannopoulo (1896-1976) must have been on top of the world. They were the first women admitted as medical students at [Read more]
For the first time ever, Becker Library is participating in #ColorOurCollections, a week-long coloring fest on social media organized by libraries, archives and other cultural institutions around the world. Using materials from their collections, these institutions are sharing free coloring content with the hashtag #ColorOurCollections and inviting their followers to color and get creative with [Read more]
Bernard Becker Medical Library is fortunate to have robust collections in archives and rare books that document the history of medicine from the late 15th century up to the present. Subjects in which the library’s holdings are particularly strong include ophthalmology and optics, neurology, deaf education, and the history of dentistry. In order to encourage [Read more]
“…Lily was admitted to 7East. The nurses assigned to Lily’s care were very special. What was so amazing to us was their ability to see each child with a fresh new set of eyes. It is incredible to think that despite their work load during their 12-hour shifts that they could convey care, nurturing, and [Read more]