Clara Cynthia Benson (1875–1964) was a Canadian chemist, the sole female founder of the American Society for Biological Chemistry (now the

American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology The American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (ASBMB) is a learned society that was founded on December 26, 1906, at a meeting organized by John Jacob Abel (Johns Hopkins University). The roots of the society were in the American Phy ...

(ASBMB)) and one of the first two women to earn a Ph.D. from the

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution ...

(U of T) (the other being philosophy student Emma Baker). She later became one of U of T's first two female associate professors. Trained in

physical chemistry Physical chemistry is the study of macroscopic and microscopic phenomena in chemical systems in terms of the principles, practices, and concepts of physics such as motion, energy, force, time, thermodynamics, quantum chemistry, statistical mecha ...

, she switched focus to

biochemistry Biochemistry or biological chemistry is the study of chemical processes within and relating to living organisms. A sub-discipline of both chemistry and biology, biochemistry may be divided into three fields: structural biology, enzymology and ...

when lack of job opportunities for female chemists led her to take a position teaching food chemistry as part of U of T's Domestic Science program. She also played a large role in the development of U of T's women's athletics program.

Early life and education

Clara Cynthia Benson was born in

Port Hope, Ontario Port Hope is a municipality in Southern Ontario, Canada, approximately east of Toronto and about west of Kingston. It is located at the mouth of the Ganaraska River on the north shore of Lake Ontario, in the west end of Northumberland County. ...

, Canada June 5, 1875 to Thomas Moore Benson and Laura Abigail Fuller. Laura and Thomas, a widowed businessman, lawyer, and judge, had three children together and additionally raised two daughters from Thomas' first marriage. Clara attended Port Hope High School then entered

University College In a number of countries, a university college is a college institution that provides tertiary education but does not have full or independent university status. A university college is often part of a larger university. The precise usage varies ...

of the

(U of T) in 1895 to study chemistry, mathematics and physics. This was only one year after the school began admitting women, and women were still not allowed into the school's reading rooms and were denied access to the library catalogues. Benson graduated with a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

in chemistry from U of T in 1899 (the first woman to do so) and continued straight into PhD studies. She earned her doctorate in 1903, making her one of the first two women to earn a Ph.D. from the

(U of T) (the other being philosophy student Emma Baker). Benson's doctoral research, supervised by William Lash Miller, examined reaction rates of

inorganic In chemistry, an inorganic compound is typically a chemical compound that lacks carbon–hydrogen bonds, that is, a compound that is not an organic compound. The study of inorganic compounds is a subfield of chemistry known as '' inorganic chemist ...

salt solutions. Her thesis, ''The rates of the reactions in solutions containing ferrous sulphate, potassium iodide, and chromic acid'' was published in the ''Journal of Physical Chemistry'' (''JPC'') in May, 1903.

Career and research

Benson's early research was in the field of

, with an emphasis on reaction rates of

salt solutions. Her 1902 article "The Rate of Oxidation of Ferrous Salts by Chromic Acid" may make her the second female author (after

Marie Curie Marie Salomea Skłodowska–Curie ( , , ; born Maria Salomea Skłodowska, ; 7 November 1867 – 4 July 1934) was a Polish and naturalized-French physicist and chemist who conducted pioneering research on radioactivity. She was the first ...

) to publish in the ''Journal of Physical Chemistry'' (''JPC''). As a woman, she had difficulty finding a job as a physical chemist after graduating, so she took a position as a demonstrator in food science at U of T's new Lillian Massey School of Domestic Science. She objected to this program's goal of preparing women to be housewives and had even signed a petition organized by University College's Women's Alumnae Association in 1902 questioning the program's introduction. At the time, however,

food chemistry Food chemistry is the study of chemical processes and interactions of all biological and non-biological components of foods. The biological substances include such items as meat, poultry, lettuce, beer, milk as examples. It is similar to biochemist ...

was one of the chemistry sub-fields with better professional opportunities for women. This position involved switching from U of T's Chemistry Department to their Physiology (Physiological Chemistry) Department, where she was mentored by the "Father of the Medical School at Toronto," A.B. Macallum. Her subsequent research included biochemical examinations of fluid and tissue composition. When food science was incorporated into U of T's medical curriculum in 1905, Benson was promoted to lecturer in physiological chemistry (

), making her the first woman at U of T to achieve a rank above demonstrator. In 1906, a royal commission report led to the creation of the Faculty of Household Science, of which Benson and the principal, Annie Laird, became associate professors, making them U of T's first female professors. Benson helped develop the school's

program and, in 1926, was promoted to full professor and head of the Department of Food Chemistry (a position she held until her retirement as professor emeritus in 1945). Starting in 1915, she conducted summer studies at St. Andrews Biological Station examining the chemistry of seafood. At the request of Canada's Ministry of Marine and Fisheries, which was trying to build consumer demand for fish, she organized a group of food scientists from Canadian universities to work to improve fish preparation methods. During

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

she developed and organized a course of instruction on ways to adapt food chemistry analysis techniques to explosives. These methods were adopted by munitions laboratories, helping standardized their production steps. She was sole female founder of the American Society for Biological Chemistry (now the

(ASBMB)) when it formed in December, 1906.

Other interests and later life

Benson advocated for the development of women's athletics at the University of Toronto, co-chairing a committee on the matter and serving as the first president of the Women's Athletic Association from 1921 until her retirement. She sat on a committee of female faculty members formed in 1928 to fight for the creation of a women's athletic facility. When U of T opened their first women's gymnasium in 1959, they named it the Benson Building in her honor. Benson served on the national board of the

YWCA The Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA) is a nonprofit organization with a focus on empowerment, leadership, and rights of women, young women, and girls in more than 100 countries. The World office is currently based in Geneva, Swi ...

(Young Women's Christian Association), chairing their Foreign Committee, and her work with the organization led her to sponsor two French

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

orphans after her retirement. Her hobbies included stamp-collecting and traveling. She also enjoyed film-making, and videos she took while on some of her travels are housed at U of T's archives. She was colleagues and friends with biochemist

Maud Menten Maud Leonora Menten (March 20, 1879 – July 17, 1960) was a Canadian physician and chemist. As a bio-medical and medical researcher, she made significant contributions to enzyme kinetics and histochemistry and invented a procedure that rema ...

, who was also trained by Archibald Macallum. Benson never married nor had children, and after retiring in 1945, she returned to Port Hope where she died March 24, 1964 (aged 89).

Honors and awards

Benson was elected a fellow of the Canadian Institute of Chemistry in 1919, but was not allowed to attend their Annual Dinner in 1920 because she was a woman. She was listed in the 1920s' ''American Men in Science''. U of T's Household Science alumnae created a fellowship in her honor in 1950 and hung a portrait of her by Yousef Karsh in the Household Science building. In 1992, the Canadian Society of Chemistry created the annually-awarded Clara Benson Award to honor female chemists working in Canada. In 2003, U of T celebrated the 100 year anniversary of her PhD achievement with a day of celebrations including a reenactment of her thesis defense.

Selected publications

* * * *

References

External links

Clara Cynthia Benson archival papers
held at th
University of Toronto Archives and Records Management Services
{{authority control 20th-century Canadian women scientists Canadian biochemists Women biochemists Canadian women chemists Canadian women biologists 20th-century Canadian chemists 20th-century Canadian biologists