June Lindsey
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June Lindsey | |
|---|---|
| Born | June 7, 1922 Doncaster, England, U.K. |
| Died | November 4, 2021 (aged 99) |
| Alma mater | University of Cambridge |
| Known for | Structure of Adenine and Guanine |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Crystallography |
| Institutions | University of Oxford National Research Council |
| Thesis | An X-ray investigation of certain sulphonates and purines. (1950) |
June Monica Lindsey (née Broomhead, June 7, 1922 – November 4, 2021) was a British-Canadian physical chemist. Whilst working on X-ray crystallography at the University of Cambridge, Lindsey was influential in the elucidation of the structure of DNA. She solved the structures of the purines, adenine and guanine. Her depiction of intramolecular hydrogen bonds in adenine crystals was central to Watson and Crick's elucidation of the double helical structure of DNA.
June Broomhead was born in Doncaster, England in June 1922.[1] She joined the University of Cambridge, UK, in 1941.[2] She completed the requirements for her degree in 1944, and joined the Cavendish Laboratory at the University of Cambridge. World War II forced her to leave her research career, however. She was encouraged to become a teacher and spent two years teaching science in a school.[2] She returned to Cambridge in 1946.[2]
She completed her undergraduate courses in 1944 at Newnham College, but Cambridge did not give women undergraduate degrees prior to 1948. She was awarded her bachelor's degree 50 years after earning it.[3][4]
She solved the crystal structure of a complex of adenine and guanine.[4] She delineated the shape and dimensions of the two nitrogenous subunits of DNA.[4] She proposed that complementary nucleobases are bound together by hydrogen bonds, work that was expanded by Bill Cochran.[4] Her research, particularly the prediction of hydrogen bonds, was researched and used by Watson and Crick to determine the structure of DNA.[4][5] They created cardboard models based on the dimensions from Lindsey's crystal structures.[6] Francis Crick worked opposite Lindsey at the University of Cambridge. They did not recognise the contributions of Lindsey in their discovery of the molecular structure of nucleic acids.[4]