Miriam Michael Stimson
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Miriam Michael Stimson, OP (born Marian Emma Stimson, December 24, 1913 – June 15, 2002[1] in Chicago)[2] was a member of the Adrian Dominican Sisters and a chemist. She was the second woman to lecture at the Sorbonne and taught at Siena Heights University.[3] She is noted for her work on spectroscopy,[4] and played a role in the history of understanding DNA.[5][6]
Stimson grew up in a Catholic family of English with an Irish descent, where she was the third child of Mary Holland and Frank Stimson. Throughout childhood, Stimson's family encountered several illnesses. Her older brother had polio, and her younger sister contracted a bacterial infection that affected her heart.[2][7] Complications from the birth of twins left her mother with high blood pressure that affected her memory.[2][7] Stimson helped raise her younger siblings, and taught her younger sister how to read. This experience shaped her personality as an educator.[2][7]