Dorothea Bennett

Dorothea Bennett (December 27, 1929, Honolulu, Hawaii – August 16, 1990, Houston, Texas) was a geneticist, known for the genetics of early mammalian development and for research into mammalian sperm surface structures and their role in fertilization and spermatogenesis.^[1] She was "one of the major figures in mouse developmental genetics".^[2]

She was born on Oahu, Hawaii. She earned a bachelor's degree from Barnard College in 1951 and a doctorate from Columbia University in 1956.^[3] She was in the Department of Zoology at Columbia from 1956 to 1962, where she worked with L. C. Dunn. Bennett left to join Cornell University Medical College in 1962, where she remained until 1976. From 1976 to 1986 she was at the Sloan-Kettering Institute for Cancer Research.

Bennett moved to the University of Texas in Austin in 1986, where she was the Alfred W. Roark Centennial Professor and chair of the zoology department, and helped establish the graduate program in molecular biology.^[3]

She died of lymphoma in Texas, August 16, 1990.

Notable publications

• "The T-locus of the Mouse", Cell (1975)
• "Serological Demonstration of H–Y (Male) Antigen on Mouse Sperm", Ellen H. Goldberg, Edward A. Boyse, Dorothea Bennett, Margrit Scheid, and Elizabeth A. Carswell. v.232, pp. 478–480 (Aug. 13, 1971). doi:10.1038/232478a0
• "Developmental analysis of a mutation with pleiotropic effects in the mouse", Journal of Morphology (1956)
• "Gene mapping within the T/t complex of the mouse. II. Anomalous position of the H-2 complex in t haplotypes", K Artzt, HS Shin, D Bennett, Cell (1982)
• "Analogies between embryonic (T/t) antigens and adult major histocompatibility (H-2) antigens", K Artzt, D Bennett, Nature (1975)
• "A major testicular cell protein specified by a mouse T/t complex gene", LM Silver, K Artzt, D Bennett, Cell (2006)
• Current Topics in Developmental Biology, v.18: Genome Functions, Cell Interactions, and Differentiation (Academic Press: Feb. 28, 1983)

Awards

• honorary doctorate from the Faculty of Medicine at Uppsala University, Sweden (1981).^[4]

Further research

• "Dorothea Bennett, 60, Geneticist and Teacher" (obituary), New York Times, Aug. 18, 1990.
• "In Memoriam: Dorothea Bennett", University of Texas (1990)
• Karen Artzt, "In Memoriam Dorothea Bennett 1929-1990", Immunogenetics, v.33, n.1 (1991), pp. 1–3. DOI 10.1007/BF00211688
• Theodosius Dobzhansky, Leslie Clarence Dunn, 1893-1974: A Biographical Memoir (National Academy of Sciences 1978) (significant discussion of L. C. Dunn's and Dorothea Bennett's collaborations)
• Lee M. Silver, "In Memoriam: Dorothea Bennett, 1929-1990", Mammalian Genome, v.1, n.2 (1991), pp. 69–70. DOI 10.1007/BF02443780
• "Obituaries", The Scientist Magazine, Sept. 17, 1990.
• Biographical Dictionary of Women in Science

Notes

1. "Dorothea Bennett, 60, Geneticist and Teacher" (obituary), New York Times, Aug. 18, 1990.
2. "Interview with President Shirley Tilghman", Bioessays (May 2008), v.30, n.5, pp.480-486. PMID 18404704.
3. Teresa Palomo Acosta, "In Memoriam: Dorothea Bennett", University of Texas (Feb. 6, 2001).
4. http://www.uu.se/en/about-uu/traditions/prizes/honorary-doctorates/