IN MEMORIAM
DOROTHEA BENNETT
Dorothea Bennett was born on December 27, 1929, in
Hawaii, and died in Austin on August 16, 1990, after a very productive
scientific career cut short by her untimely death. She was the daughter
of a navy family and lived in Hawaii until the time of the Pearl Harbor
attack. She finished her public schooling in Omaha, Nebraska, followed
by undergraduate studies at Barnard College in New York, where in 1951
she completed a BA in zoology (magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa).
Bennett entered graduate school at Columbia University
in 1952 to become a student of L. C. Dunn, one of the pioneers of genetics,
especially mammalian developmental genetics. She received a PhD, based
on a study of the steel locus in mice, in 1956. She continued
as a research associate of Dunn for six years and as a collaborator
until his death in 1974. Bennett became assistant professor of anatomy
at Cornell University Medical College in 1962, followed by promotion
to associate professor (1965) and professor (1971). In 1976, she moved
to the Sloan-Kettering Institute, where she was a member and professor
of cell biology and genetics. In 1986, Bennett joined The University
of Texas at Austin as Alfred W. Roark Centennial Professor of Zoology
and chairman of the Department of Zoology.
Much of Bennett's scientific work was on the t
complex in mice. This complex genetic locus, discovered by Dunn
in 1930, resisted conventional genetic analysis for several decades.
The t alleles are homozygous lethal but occur with unexpectedly
high frequency in nature because of distortion of the transmission ratio
in offspring of carrier males. Bennett initially focused on the defects
in embryonic development associated with homozygosity for a t
allele. She and her students demonstrated that the cells of very early
embryos fail to aggregate properly. This suggested that ttembryos
have abnormal surface properties, which in turn led to the application
of immunological approaches to characterize the cell surfaces.
One of the difficulties in analysis of the t
complex is absence of genetic recombination in that chromosomal region.
This powerful tool the basic technique of genetic analysis was thus
not available to dissect the t complex. Eventually, Bennett's
group found that combinations of two different t alleles would
recombine within the tregion, permitting genetic fine-structure
analysis. The t mutations occur in a region of chromosome 17
that is inverted as compared to the normal wild-type chromosome.
This prevents proper pairing in heterozygotes, thereby blocking crossing
over.
With the development of molecular genetic techniques,
Bennett added that powerful approach to analysis of the t region.
At the time of her death, she, her long-time collaborator Karen Artzt,
and her students were pursuing the t complex at this ultimate
level of understanding. In the span of her career, she moved from microscopic
analysis of mammalian embryonic development, to devising special methods
of studying transmission genetics, to molecular genetics. Her research
was driven by problems; the specific approaches and techniques were
acquired when they promised to help solve problems. Even as she became
more prominent and took on administrative duties, she insisted on working
at the bench. This accounts for the remarkable item in her bibliography
of a single-authored paper in Nature in 1978.
The quality of Bennett's research was widely recognized
by her peers and led to many honors. Among these was an honorary Doctor
of Medicine awarded by the University of Uppsala in Sweden in 1978.
The unusual (for U.S. institutions) headgear associated with that degree,
vaguely like an elegant chef's toque, added an interesting variation
to the regalia at UT Austin commencements. She also was an invited lecturer
at the Harvey Society (New York) and the Collège de France (Paris).
She served as a member of the Commission on Life Sciences of the National
Research Council-National Academy of Sciences. She was on the Board
of Scientific Overseers of the Jackson Laboratory (Bar Harbor, Maine)
for a number of years. During one interregnum at that institution, she
served as chairman of the Scientific Overseers, commuting at regular
intervals from New York. There were also many occasions for service
as a peer reviewer for the National Institutes of Health and the National
Science Foundation.
Her enthusiasm for research was matched by her enthusiasm
for other aspects of life, golf and tennis in particular. She was an
excellent mentor to graduate students and postdoctoral fellows, many
of whom have gone on to outstanding careers. From her they learned firsthand
the importance of character, the need for uncompromising intellectual
rigor, and the rewards of a life of scientific inquiry.
Bennett bore her diagnosis of lymphoma with her usual
strength of character. During periods of difficult chemotherapy, she
continued her duties as chair of the zoology department and continued
to be productive in the laboratory. Indeed, she was in her office only
ten days before her death, finishing up several manuscripts for submission
to journals for publication.
<signed>
Larry R. Faulkner, President
The University of Texas at Austin
<signed>
John R. Durbin, Secretary
The General Faculty
This memorial resolution was prepared
by a special committee consisting of Professors H. Eldon Sutton (chair),
Karen Artzt, and Bob G. Sanders.
A Copy of the list of publications
is available on request from the Office of the General Faculty, FAC
22, F9500.
