Women in Science: Helen Purdy Beale

The timely development of the rapid COVID-19 test in 2020 is the result of many little-known scientists who helped to unlock the secrets of viruses. Within this history of discovery lies important lessons which are worthy of our consideration. 

In this article, we will see that science thrives in academic freedom where scientists are unfettered to explore and report their findings.  Advancements in the sciences are born out of
(a) faith in objective reality
(b) belief in an orderly creation which is
(c) governed by principles that are discoverable.  "Good science" as we define it dispels superstition and fear as Edward Jenner's historic discovery of the smallpox vaccination illustrates.  

Sadly, our culture today has become obsessed with discrimination, identity politics, and political wokeness related to ethnicity and gender.  This obsession is stifling education and scientific understanding of the physical creation. Such distorted thinking even contradicts the biological theories underlying the distinction of male and female, and of the rich ethnic diversity of the human species. While affirming gender and ethnic distinctions, we can also encourage both men and women to pursue excellence in the sciences as judged by their individual academic merit and not according to their ethnic or gender classification.  

During this March, Women's History Month, we want to celebrate the achievement of women in the sciences.    What follows is a brief history lesson in how one woman overcame cultural obstacles to contribute to our understanding of the viruses.  First, we will provide some background on viruses.

Making Viruses "Visible"
Viruses have been around since the beginning of creation.  We associate viruses with disease, but many viruses also play beneficial roles (Click HERE for more detail.).  Their submicroscopic size helped viruses to elude discovery until the invention of the electron microscope in the early 1930’s.  Until then, viruses wreaked havoc on human and animal lives through diseases like smallpox and rabies.  They also reduced crop yields by interfering with photosynthesis and other plant processes.  Both medical and agricultural pathologists were helpless in efforts to combat this invisible enemy.

Imagine if you are a scientist one century ago who is pursuing an invisible pathogen known to cause a disease:  What would you do to identify it?  Here’s a brief history in which each of three scientists  major discoveries, one by each of three different scientists who contributed toward making an “invisible pathogen” become “visible:”

1) Viruses are transmissible agents -- In 1882, the German scientist, Adolph Mayer, had been studying in Holland what he termed “tobacco mosaic disease” (TMD).  He named the disease from the mosaic pattern of brown mottling of tobacco leaves.  Mayer demonstrated that the disease could be transmitted by rubbing sap from diseased tobacco leaves onto healthy leaves. 

2) Viruses are smaller than bacteria – In 1892, Dmitri Ivanovsky, a Russian microbiologist, concluded that the agent causing the TMD was smaller than bacteria because it passed through a sterilizing filter that could trap bacteria

3) Viruses multiply in dividing cells -- In 1898, Dutch microbiologist Marcus Beijerinck observed that the agent responsible for TMD could multiply only in dividing cells, and proposed that the agent is a “contagious living fluid,” or virus.  As a result, TMD was attributed to the “tobacco mosaic virus,” or TMV.

Helen Purdy Beale:  Her Contribution
In spite of these pioneering discoveries and others in the early 20^th century, by the dawn of the 1920’s, viruses still remained largely a mystery.  Our fourth major researcher is Helen Purdy Beale (1893-1976) who graduated with her doctorate from Columbia University in 1929.  Max Koslov, writing in The Scientist (February 1, 2021), describes how Beale’s research contribution led to the first successful serological approaches to studying viruses:

“After graduating from Columbia, Beale returned to the Boyce Thompson Institute (BTI) in Yonkers, New York, where she’d previously worked as a plant pathologist for a few years.  She postulated that a substance in animal serum—today known as antibodies—could be used to study plant viruses. Indeed, Beale found that the serum of rabbits that were injected with TMV-infected sap could then be mixed with samples of sap from other plants to test whether they were also infected:  only TMV-infected sap would form a heavy precipitate (made of antibody-bound virus) when mixed with the serum. Different plant species infected by the virus yielded similar precipitates, indicating that the disease did not arise from a defect of the plants themselves, but was caused by an infectious agent. Beale subsequently found that the precipitate formation was specific to TMV, and she devised assays to determine viral concentration—methods that were among the first serological techniques in virology.” [Click on image to enlarge.]

Beale’s research on the binding of TMV by rabbit antibodies demonstrated that antibodies can neutralize a virus.  She further revealed that binding specificity exists between antibodies and viruses such that the specificity can be used to distinguish and purify specific strains of the TMV.  Dr. Beale’s distinguished research career spanned over five decades. Kozlov cites Karen‐Beth Scholthof and Paul D.Peterson (2006) who describe Helen Beale as the “mother of plant virology and serology.”     

After her retirement, Dr. Beale compiled an extensive bibliography of more than 29,000 references entitled Bibliography of Plant Viruses, and Index to Research.  As noted above, Beale’s gifted dedication and publication of her research into serology and virology makes her an unsung but major contributor to our current war against COVID-19 and many other microscopic pathogens.   

Helen Purdy Beale:  Her Challenges
On every Ada Lovelace Day, there is an international celebration of the achievements of women in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM).  On October 13, 2020, Helen Purdy Beale was posthumously honored by the Boyce Thompson Institute.  She was described as “one of the first researchers at BTI in 1924, “and hailed as “a pioneer in serology and virology.”  (See Video HERE.)  But a surprising backstory accompanies the scientific achievements of Ms. Beale.

After graduating from Barnard College in 1918 with an A.B. in botany, Helen Purdy Beale enrolled in Cornell University to pursue her Ph.D. in plant pathology.  She conducted her research in the laboratory of Dr. Herbert H. Whetzel, the creator and chair of the department of plant pathology.  By 1919, according to Kozlov, it appeared that Helen was “on track to become the first woman to graduate with a doctorate from Cornell University’s plant pathology department.”  Unfortunately, as Helen’s outstanding competence in research became evident, Whetzel began to discourage her efforts out of a lack of confidence in her future prospects as a woman in science. 

Sensing the lack of support from her mentor, Helen decided to postpone her doctoral research.  Meanwhile, the newspapers of 1919 were regularly reporting the progress of the Woman Suffrage movement, and Congress was deliberating on a proposed 19^th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.  By the time the amendment granting women the right to vote was ratified a year later, Helen had redoubled her determination to succeed in her scientific pursuits.  Her resume includes a teaching stint at Vassar College and the continuation of her research in diverse locations including the University of Copenhagen, the New York City department of health, the New York Botanical Gardens, and the Hawaiian Sugar Planters Association before beginning her long career as a researcher at the Boyce Thompson Institute (BTI), in 1924. 

At BTI, Helen applied her growing expertise in microbiology to her research under Louis O. Kunkel who, in 1925, encouraged her to resume her graduate studies in Whetzel’s lab at Cornell.  Helen Purdy Beale’s final hurdle toward obtaining her doctoral degree was to gain the approval of her adviser, Herbert Whetzel.”  However, he returned Helen’s thesis “heavily marked up with red ink.”  And, if her advisor’s response was not discouraging enough, she soon learned that Whetzel had predetermined that women should not be awarded doctoral degrees, believing that they would have no chance of becoming employed.    

Helen had every right to mount a protest against a clear case of gender discrimination by crying foul and bitterly turning away from her effort to earn a doctoral degree in plant pathology.  But in 1927, once again with the encouragement of her colleague at BTI, Louis Kinkel, Helen resumed her quest for a Ph.D., this time at Columbia University where she completed her work in 1929.  Because of her unwavering determination coupled with the encouragement of male colleagues like Louis Kunkel and her faculty mentors at Columbia, Helen was able to publish her dissertation containing the first of her groundbreaking discoveries that have since made her famous.

Legacy to “Good Science”
St. Catherine of Siena, co-patron saint of Italy with St. Francis of Assisi, is quoted as saying, “Nothing great is ever achieved without much enduring.”  Many of the great contributors to both the sciences and the Christian faith are testimonies of this principle.  Helen Purdy Beale was no exception.  An illustrious career and contributions by this gifted woman would not have been possible without her personal determination and endurance in the face of unfair gender discrimination.  

It is unlikely that Helen’s unfortunate experience at Cornell was the only encounter in which her credibility as a female scientist was questioned.  Her scientific findings may have received less attention in her field than if they had been published by a male researcher.  However, as women were able to make increasing inroads into the sciences, and as respect for women grew among their male colleagues, scientific publications by women received their deserved attention.

Scholthof and Peterson marvel that “plant pathologists were still using the tools and methods of the early 20th century as late as the 1960’s before they rediscovered Beale’s experiments and began using her assays, the fundamentals of which are still used today. Frederick Charles Bawden, a plant pathologist, wrote in 1970: “I still remain puzzled to understand how it was that so many virus workers long remained reluctant to use these invaluable techniques. With hindsight, it is very evident they were even more valuable than those of us who used them appreciated.”

Discoveries in the natural sciences have never come easy.  The natural world, or “creation,” is wonderfully complex.  At the same time, we humans are fallible in our ability to observe, think, measure, analyze, and unselfishly cooperate in unbiased research.  What we have called “good science” is threatened when any or all of these are absent.  Previous articles in Oikonomia have addressed the importance of “good science” with respect to the following:
Science Museum Collections -- See HERE
Ethics and Accountability -- See HERE     
“Follow the Science” -- See HERE
“Settled Science” and the career of Barbara McClintock -- See HERE
Science and Culture – See HERE

Thanks to women like Helen Purdy Beale and her mentors, we have yet another context in which to realize the essential requirements for scientific pursuits to be successful in formulating accurate claims about the creation.  Just as a baby chick requires the environment of a warm incubator, so the sciences require a culture that values science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education.  Included in these curricula are objectives that aim to teach students to develop the skills needed for the conduct of “good science” as shown (SEE ABOVE "Essentials for 'Good Science'").

Beyond the more obvious essentials of “good science,” there must be a political and cultural environment of civility and respect that encourages freedom of expression and rigorous discussion.  Finally, the role of Helen Purdy Beale’s encouraging mentors, including Lewis O. Kunkel of BTI, highlights the valuable and often unsung role of dedicated teachers and faithful mentors in nurturing future contributors to the sciences.

Dedication
Abby and I want to thank God for the honor of teaching and mentoring many fine young men and women during the years between 1969 and 2011.  We especially dedicate this article to the women students who have pursued God’s calling into meaningful careers in science or other vocations. Many women, including women faculty at Cedarville University with whom we have served, have had to balance their careers as wives, and in many cases, mothers of one or more children.  We honor women faculty members and former students for their testimony of faith in God, including women who may not be in the sciences at present but are having a positive role in raising up young scientists for tomorrow.

Response from Readers
We invite you to share your responses to this article, particularly as related to your challenges and blessings as a professional scientist or educator; or, as a wife and mother who participates in science education of your children, family members, or community.  We would love to read your “Comment,” question, or a helpful reference you choose to share.  Just click on the “Comment” link below to enter your message, or write to us at silviusj@gmail.com.  Thank you for reading.