Rita Harradence

Rita Harriet Cornforth, Lady Cornforth (16 September 1915 − 6 November 2012) was an Australian–British biochemist who pioneered the synthesis of penicillamine and steroids, and the stereochemistry of molecules involved in the biosynthesis of cholesterol.

Biography Rita Harriet Harradence was born in Bexley, New South Wales, on 16 September 1915, the daughter of Walter Charles Harradence and his wife Ethel Harriet Todd. She had brothers, Arthur and Edward. Her father was a carpenter and her mother was a seamstress in a department store. She attended St George Girls High School, where she excelled, particularly in mathematics. When she matriculated in 1933, she was ranked first in New South Wales in chemistry. She also received first class honours in mathematics, and A's in English, French, Latin and mechanics, making her one of the top students in the state.

Harradence won a state scholarship to study chemistry at the University of Sydney, While there she met John Cornforth, a fellow chemistry student a year behind her. She had broken a Claisen flask and Cornforth, with his expertise of glassblowing and the use of a blowpipe, mended the break. They got to know each other and spent time bushwalking in the Blue Mountains on weekends. The Second World War broke out while they were crossing the Indian Ocean. At Oxford, they both worked on their doctorates. Harradence wrote hers, under Robinson's supervision, Robinson had Harradence and Cornforth synthesise penicillamine. The couple both received honorary DSc from the University of Sussex, at her home in Sussex, with her family around her, and was buried in Clayton Wood Natural Burial Ground.