Iphigenia Photaki
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Iphigenia Photaki | |
|---|---|
Ιφιγένεια Βουρβίδου-Φωτάκη | |
| Born | 1921 |
| Died | 1983 (aged 61–62) |
| Other names | Iphigenia Vourvidou-Photaki (after marriage) |
| Alma mater | University of Athens |
| Known for | Chemical synthesis of complex and biologically active peptides |
| Awards | Georgios Panopoulos Prize of the Academy of Athens (1970) |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Organic chemistry, Peptide chemistry |
| Institutions |
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| Theses | |
| Doctoral advisor | Leonidas Zervas |
Iphigenia Photaki (Greek: Ιφιγένεια Φωτάκη, pronounced [ifiˈʝeni.a foˈtaki]; also known after marriage as Iphigenia Vourvidou-Photaki, Greek: Ιφιγένεια Βουρβίδου-Φωτάκη; 1921–1983) was a Greek organic chemist remembered for her contributions in peptide chemical synthesis, especially in the synthesis of biologically/enzymatically active peptides.[1][2][3][4][5]
Photaki was in 1965 the fourth woman overall to be habilitated in a scientific discipline in Greece, and the second to do so in the field of Chemistry.[3][4] She specialised in peptide synthesis, influenced by her mentor and doctoral advisor Leonidas Zervas, a global authority on the subject.[1][2][4] After distinguished research in Basel, Athens, and later Cornell, Photaki eventually rose to Professor of Organic Chemistry and Head of the Laboratory of Organic Chemistry of the University of Athens.[2][3][5]
Early life, start of career and Basel
Photaki was born in Corinth in 1921 and finished her secondary education at the 2nd Girls' Gymnasium of Athens in 1938.[2][4] In the same year she enrolled at the Department of Chemistry in the University of Athens, where she specialised in Organic chemistry under the mentorship of Leonidas Zervas.[2][3][4] Her studies were interrupted during the Axis occupation of Greece when the Laboratory of Organic Chemistry was destroyed and Zervas was imprisoned as a member of the Greek Resistance.[2][3] Photaki was finally awarded her degree summa cum laude in 1946 and subsequently continued her postgraduate studies under Zervas, earning her PhD in 1950 with a dissertation regarding glucosamine.[1][2][3][4] Concurrently, she held a paid laboratory assistant position at the university already from 1943, carrying on as a research assistant until 1953.[3][4]
In 1953, Photaki was awarded a scholarship to conduct research in Basel after examinations by the Greek State Scholarships Foundation.[2][3][4] At the University of Basel she worked in the Laboratory of Organic Chemistry, at the time headed by Nobel laureate Tadeusz Reichstein.[2][4] For the first two years of her stay (1953–1955) she was part of the Max Brenner research group, later moving as an independent scientific associate of Hans Erlenmeyer.[2][4] Upon returning to Greece, she initially worked at the biochemical lab of the Evangelismos Hospital before being invited by Zervas to the nascent National Hellenic Research Foundation (NHRF) which he had helped found.[3][4]
Cornell and later career in Athens
Photaki was selected in 1962 by the US Department of Health, Education and Welfare among an international pool of candidates to conduct research by the side of Nobel laureate Vincent du Vigneaud at Cornell University.[2][3][4] While in New York, she also delivered a short series of lectures both in Cornell and at the National Institutes of Health (NIH).[4]
Back in the University of Athens after Cornell, Photaki continued her research and was soon habilitated in 1965 following a thesis on oxytocin, building on the work she started under du Vigneaud.[1][3][4][6] Despite her internationally distinguished research and sizeable recent grants from the NHRF and the United States NIH, she was not allowed to teach by the Greek military junta until 1969 and was intensively interrogated by the Cities Police Security Directorate on account of her anti-dictatorial political beliefs.[2][3][4]
Photaki's teaching career was purposefully hindered by the Ministry of Education until the restoration of democracy in 1974; indeed, in 1975 she was promoted to extraordinary professor, a decade after receiving her habilitation.[2][3][5] Shortly afterwards, in 1977, she was promoted to full professor (as Professor of Organic Chemistry) and Head of the Organic Chemistry Laboratory, both positions once held by her mentor Zervas.[2] Photaki died in 1983 at the age of 62.[1][2]
She was reported to spend very long hours at the laboratory, occasionally from "8 in the morning till 10 in the evening".[2][3] In her 20-year career as a member of the University of Athens faculty, she supervised (alone or jointly with other colleagues) more than 15 doctoral dissertations.[4][5]
