Deane, Helen Wendler (1917–1966)

views updated

Deane, Helen Wendler (1917–1966)

American histochemist. Name variations: Helen Deane Markham. Born 1917 in Massachusetts; died 1966; Wellesley College, BS; Brown University, PhD, 1944; m. Dr. George Markham, 1947.

Histochemist who worked on fine structure of mammalian tissues, joined department of anatomy at Harvard University (1947); was forced out of Harvard after testifying before McCarthyite House Un-American Activities Committee about strongly held views on social injustice; struggled to find employment after leaving Harvard, experiencing double discrimination as woman in scientific field and an academic falsely labeled as a Communist; was hired as professor of anatomy at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York but experienced lapse in employment at this institution as well due to McCarthyite pressures.

See also Ellen W. Schrecker, No Ivory Tower: McCarthyism and the Universities of New York (Oxford U. Press, 1986).