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CCB Spotlight: Mary P. Fieser, A.M. '36

March 11, 2022
Mary P. Fieser

This article is a part of "CCB Spotlight," a new ongoing series of articles that will report on achievements in research, education, career development, and community development among students, alumni, faculty, staff, groups and wider members of the chemistry and chemical biology community at Harvard. To nominate an individual and or a group to be spotlighted, please complete this short form or reach out to Communications Manager Yahya Chaudhry.

In honor of Women's History Month, this article profiles Mary P. Fieser, A.M. '36-- the acclaimed co-author of influential chemistry textbooks and longtime researcher with the Fieser Research Group.

Early Life:

Mary Peters was born in 1909 to parents who instilled a passion for higher education in their daughters. Mary's mother had an undergraduate degree and did graduate work in English at Goucher College before she began managing a bookstore, while her father, Robert Peters, was a professor of English at Midland and later at what is now Carnegie Mellon University. Raised in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, Fieser and her sister Ruth were educated at a private girl’s school that prepared them to earn graduate degrees. Ruth went on to receive a Ph.D. in mathematics from Harvard in 1935 before working as a professor of mathematics at several higher education institutions including the University of New Hampshire.

In 1926, Mary began her undergraduate stuides at Bryn Mawr, a women's liberal arts college and one of the Seven Sister colleges, a group of elite, historically women's colleges in the United States. Despite her parents insterest in the humanities, Mary initially planned to become a medical doctor, but decided to become a chemist after enrolleing.

Mary met her future husband, collaborator and co-author, Louis Fieser while he was an instructor at Bryn Mawr, where he taught all of her chemistry courses. Louis had begun teaching at Bryn Mawr just one year earlier after earning his Ph.D. in chemistry from Harvard under Professor James B. Conant and completeing post-doctoral work at Oxford University. As a graduate student Louis investigated the oxidation-reduction potential of quinones. According to the Journal of Chemical Education, "Louis Fieser’s sense of humor, love of subject, and engaging lectures appealed to her enormously. She also enjoyed his emphasis on experimental rather than theoretical chemistry." In 1930, Mary graduated with her bachelor's degree in organic chemistry and left for Cambridge, MA at the same time that Louis left Brywn Mawr to begin teaching at Harvard.

Mary Peters Fieser

At Radcliffe/Harvard:

Harvard wouldn't officially admit women at the time, so Mary enrolled in Radcliffe College in 1930 so she could take classes and perform research at Harvard and earn a master's degree. At the time, Mary was one of four women who had enrolled at Radcliffe to purse a graduate degree in chemistry. As a graduate student, she performed research in Louis's lab half-time and attended classes half-time.  While Professor Louis Fieser was open to having women work in his lab, other Harvard faculty member were not so accomodating. Although she took the same classes from Harvard faculty as male students, women were not allowed to take the classes at the same time or in the same building as the men. Mary described Harvard as "not yet the place for a woman", especially because Radcliffe had no laboratory facilities of its own.  One professor who taught a required analytical chemistry course, Gregory Baxter, would not allow her in his lab , and instead she had to carry out her assignments, unsupervised, in a basement in an adjoined building. “I could see I was not going to get along well on my own,” Mary said.

In 1932, Mary married Louis Fieser and began a remarkable research, teaching, and literary collaboration which lasted until Louis' death in 1977. Together they published 35 research papers, 8 books, and influential serieses of textbooks. Once she had gotten married,  Mary said “I could do as much chemistry as I wanted, and it didn’t matter what Professor Baxter thought of me.” Mary graduated with with a master's degree in chemisry from Radcliffe in 1936.

Mary P. Fieser and Louis Fieser
Mary P. Fieser and Louis Fieser

 

Career:

Throughout her career, Mary worked as a researcher as a member of the Fieser Research Group led by Louis. 

According to the Journal of Chemical Education, "The Fiesers devoted themselves to the synthesis of numerous polycyclic aromatics, which as a result became readily available for medical study. One of the most famous achievements of Louis Fieser’s research team during this period was the synthesis of vitamin K, involving the reaction of phytol with methylnaphthoquinone in its reduced form.

An equally challenging, less well-known project in this area was the Fieser investigation during World War II of naphthoquinones as a new class of antimalarials. When the Japanese invasion of the East Indies in 1942 cut off the Allies from about, nine-tenths of the world’s supply of quinine, this work was initiated with government support. Mary studied challenging problems such as the mechanism of the surprising oxidative rearrangement. The Fieser’s efforts contributed to the eventual synthesis of lapinone, an effective antimalarial unfortunately proven impractical for therapy because it requires intravenous injection.

The Fiesers’ study of steroids was an outgrowth of their quinone research since the degradation of steroids produces methylcholanthrene. The couple’s eminence in this field was established in part by their classic reference book, 'Natural Products Related to Phenanthrene.' Although the first and second editions were written by Louis alone, Mary contributed mightily to the review of chemical literature the volumes required. The third edition was co-authored. Also widely recognized was Louis Fieser’s laboratory group’s participation in the 1951 synthesis of cortisone, a steroid hormone, from desoxycholic acid. Cortisone, used in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis, became more widely available thereafter. Its therapeutic properties had first been demonstrated by Philip S. Hench at the Mayo Clinic in the 1930’s.

Not only did Mary Fieser do extensive research with her husband, she co-authored many textbooks internationally known among chemists. The Fiesers’ first accomplishment as a literary team was 'Organic Chemistry,' a trend-setting, best-selling textbook, published in 1944. They began writing the volume in the spring of 1942, when Louis’ military research entailed a great deal of traveling. Mary thought it would be beneficial for Louis to keep thinking about teaching so that 'it wouldn’t he strange to him when he returned.' After doing background reading, she offered her notes to her husband who then wrote the text. However, Mary collected material at a faster rate than he could manage to process it and, at his suggestion, she began to compose some of the chapters herself. Subsequently, she wrote sections of each volume the couple published." They produced several other textbook series including Reagents for Organic Synthesis, Organic Chemistry, Textbook of Organic Chemistry, Introduction to Organic Chemistry, Basic Organic Chemistry, Advanced Organic Chemistry, Topics in Organic Chemistry, and Current Topics in Organic Chemistry .

Chemists admire the Fiesers’ textbooks for their originality as well as excellence. The books highlighted experiements and incorporated history, with diagrams of reactions being presented as important pieces of information.

Mary P. Fieser
Mary P. Fieser

Legacy:

Mary received the Garvan Medal of the American Chemical Society as well as an honorary degree from Smith College. In 1996, Harvard dedicated the Louis and Mary Fieser Laboratory for Undergraduate Organic Chemistry in honor of Mary and Louis' work. Mary Fieser died on March 22, 1997. 

Louis Fieser (Left) Mary Fieser (Right)
Louis Fieser (Left) Mary Fieser (Right)

 

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