Helen Abbott Michael

Helen Cecilia De Silver Abbott Michael (December 23, 1857 – November 29, 1904) was an American chemist and a pioneer in phytochemistry. She documented the relationship between chemical composition and plant morphology and proposed a chemical taxonomy for plants. She was the first woman to lecture to students at the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy. She published several scientific papers and gave lectures to the American Association for the Advancement of Science meeting, the Franklin Institute, the Academy of Natural Sciences and the Smithsonian Institution. She received a medical degree from Tufts University School of Medicine and transformed her house in Boston into a free hospital for the poor, however she died from influenza contracted from one of her patients. She was married to organic chemist Arthur Michael.

Early life and education Helen Cecilia De Silver Abbott was born in Philadelphia on December 23, 1857, to James Abbott and Caroline Montelius. She was educated at home with private tutors and studied piano in Paris. She performed in a concert on the Isle of Wight in 1878 that received positive reviews. She published two original research papers, one On Haemotoxylin in the Bark of Saraca indica and another On the Occurrence of Solid Hydrocarbons in Plants. The Trustees of the school were impressed with her work and allowed her to lecture to students, the first woman permitted in the school's history. They also funded a new research laboratory with a section for female researchers.

In August 1884, Michael presented her research to the American Association for the Advancement of Science meeting in Philadelphia. She also presented her research to large audiences at the Franklin Institute and the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia. In Washington D.C., she was allowed access to the government greenhouses for research after a presentation at the Philosophical and Anthropological and Biological Societies at the United States National Museum.

During the summer of 1887, Michael traveled throughout the European continent to visit with many accomplished scientists. She visited laboratories and institutions in Sweden, Switzerland, Germany, and Britain. The scientists received Helen due to the letter of introduction she had in her possession from Samuel Pierpont Langley, secretary of the Smithsonian Institution.

In 1895, the Michaels' returned to the United States and Arthur returned to Tufts University. Helen began studying the stereochemistry of sugar molecules. In 1895, she gave a presentation before the Franklin Institute on a review of synthetic work of sugars

Michael proposed that plant evolution could be traced through plant chemistry and that similar species of plants could be identified through similar chemical compounds.

Medical career Michael entered Tufts University School of Medicine in 1900, and graduated with a M.D. degree in June 1903.

Along with another female physician, she transformed her house into a free hospital for the treatment of the poor. She died in Boston on November 29, 1904, due to influenza contracted from one of her patients. American Association for the Advancement of Science Franklin Institute of Philadelphia Deutsche Chemische Gesellschaft (Berlin)