Elizabeth Tucker Kinney Worley (January 5, 1904 – May 5, 2004), was an American zoologist and microbiologist.

Early life and education

Kinney was born in

South Hadley, Massachusetts South Hadley (, ) is a town in Hampshire County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 18,150 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Springfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area. South Hadley is home to Mount Holyoke Colleg ...

, the daughter of Asa S. Kinney and Jean B. Tucker Kinney. Her father was a professor of botany and plant science at

Mount Holyoke College Mount Holyoke College is a private liberal arts women's college in South Hadley, Massachusetts. It is the oldest member of the historic Seven Sisters colleges, a group of elite historically women's colleges in the Northeastern United States. ...

. To mark her birth, her father planted a copper beech tree near Williston Library on the campus of Mount Holyoke; that tree "has become a fixture on campus: enchanting members of the campus community and visitors alike through the seasons". Kinney graduated from Mount Holyoke College in 1924, and was active in Mount Holyoke alumnae acitivities. She pursued further studies at

Washington University Washington University in St. Louis (WashU or WUSTL) is a private research university with its main campus in St. Louis County, and Clayton, Missouri. Founded in 1853, the university is named after George Washington. Washington University is r ...

, where she earned a master's degree in 1926; she was elected to membership in

Sigma Xi Sigma Xi, The Scientific Research Honor Society () is a highly prestigious, non-profit honor society for scientists and engineers. Sigma Xi was founded at Cornell University by a junior faculty member and a small group of graduate students in 1886 ...

while there. She completed a doctorate at

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

in 1940, with a dissertation titled "A Study of the Sperm-Forming Components in Three Species of ''

Decapoda The Decapoda or decapods (literally "ten-footed") are an order of crustaceans within the class Malacostraca, including many familiar groups, such as crabs, lobsters, crayfish, shrimp and prawns. Most decapods are scavengers. The order is esti ...

''" (1939).

Career

Kinney taught zoology, anatomy, and physiology courses at Washington University,

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then-Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, the ...

, and the

University of Pittsburgh The University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) is a public state-related research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The university is composed of 17 undergraduate and graduate schools and colleges at its urban Pittsburgh campus, home to the universit ...

. At

Barnard College Barnard College of Columbia University is a private women's liberal arts college in the borough of Manhattan in New York City. It was founded in 1889 by a group of women led by young student activist Annie Nathan Meyer, who petitioned Columbia ...

she taught courses and co-led the annual Camp Leadership Course for student leaders. Worley and her biologist husband both taught at

Brooklyn College Brooklyn College is a public university in Brooklyn, Brooklyn, New York. It is part of the City University of New York system and enrolls about 15,000 undergraduate and 2,800 graduate students on a 35-acre campus. Being New York City's first publ ...

. In the 1940s, they collaborated on research on

Golgi bodies The Golgi apparatus (), also known as the Golgi complex, Golgi body, or simply the Golgi, is an organelle found in most eukaryotic cells. Part of the endomembrane system in the cytoplasm, it packages proteins into membrane-bound vesicles in ...

, and he acknowledged her contributions to his publications. As E. K. Worley, she was still co-authoring research papers on marine invertebrates in the 1970s and 1980s.

Personal life

Kinney married biology professor Leonard George Worley in 1931. They had two daughters and lived in

Manhasset, New York Manhasset is a Hamlet (New York), hamlet and census-designated place (CDP) in Nassau County, New York, Nassau County, on the North Shore (Long Island), North Shore of Long Island, in New York (state), New York. It is considered the anchor communi ...

. Her husband died in 1960. She died in 2004, aged 100 years, in Seattle. Two of her diaries are in the Mount Holyoke College Archives.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Worley, Elizabeth K. 1904 births 2004 deaths People from South Hadley, Massachusetts Mount Holyoke College alumni Brooklyn College faculty Barnard College alumni University of Pittsburgh faculty American biologists