Constance "Tancy" Holden (October 11, 1941 – April 12, 2010) was an American science journalist, known for her reporting on the roles of

genetics Genetics is the study of genes, genetic variation, and heredity in organisms.Hartl D, Jones E (2005) It is an important branch in biology because heredity is vital to organisms' evolution. Gregor Mendel, a Moravian Augustinian friar wor ...

and

biology Biology is the scientific study of life. It is a natural science with a broad scope but has several unifying themes that tie it together as a single, coherent field. For instance, all organisms are made up of cells that process hereditary i ...

in human behavior. She worked at ''

Science Science is a systematic endeavor that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe. Science may be as old as the human species, and some of the earliest archeological evidence for ...

'' from 1970 until her death in 2010. She was also a successful artist whose

oil painting Oil painting is the process of painting with pigments with a medium of drying oil as the binder. It has been the most common technique for artistic painting on wood panel or canvas for several centuries, spreading from Europe to the rest of ...

s were hung on the walls of the

American Association for the Advancement of Science The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is an American international non-profit organization with the stated goals of promoting cooperation among scientists, defending scientific freedom, encouraging scientific respons ...

's headquarters in

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

On April 12, 2010, while riding her

bicycle A bicycle, also called a pedal cycle, bike or cycle, is a human-powered or motor-powered assisted, pedal-driven, single-track vehicle, having two wheels attached to a frame, one behind the other. A is called a cyclist, or bicyclist. Bic ...

home from work, she was hit and killed by a truck providing security support for that day's

Nuclear Security Summit The Nuclear Security Summit (NSS) is a world summit, aimed at preventing nuclear terrorism around the globe. The first summit was held in Washington, D.C., United States, on April 12–13, 2010. The second summit was held in Seoul, South Korea, i ...

. She was survived by her husband, John Butters. In her memory, the International Society for Intelligence Research awards a single individual the right to give the Constance Holden Memorial Address. Past recipients of this honor include

Toby Young Toby Daniel Moorsom Young (born 17 October 1963) is a British social commentator. He is the founder and director of the Free Speech Union, an associate editor of ''The Spectator'', and a former associate editor at ''Quillette.'' A graduate of ...

, Alice Dreger, and

Susan Pinker Susan Pinker is a psychologist, author and social science columnist for ''The Wall Street Journal''. She is a former weekly columnist for ''The Globe and Mail'', and has also written for ''The New York Times'', ''The Guardian'', and ''The Times o ...

. Her family also created the Constance Holden Memorial Concert in memory of her life in

Vermont Vermont () is a state in the northeast New England region of the United States. Vermont is bordered by the states of Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, and New York to the west, and the Canadian province of Quebec to ...

. The concert is performed annually by the classical music school Point Counterpoint, located on

Lake Dunmore Lake Dunmore is a freshwater lake in Addison County, Vermont. The lake spans the towns of Salisbury and Leicester and has a surface area of 985 acres (3.98 km2). Lake Dunmore is over 3 miles long (oriented north-south) and up to 1 mile wide. T ...

References

1941 births 2010 deaths Road incident deaths in Washington, D.C. American women journalists American science journalists Cycling road incident deaths American women painters Women science writers 21st-century American women {{US-journalist-1940s-stub