Honoring pioneering microbiologist and science educator Maxine Frank Singer ’52, H’78 :: News & Events :: Swarthmore College

Maxine Frank Singer ’52, H’78, a National Medal of Science recipient known for her groundbreaking research and tireless commitment to advancing access and inclusion in STEM fields, passed away on July 9 at her home in Washington, DC. She was 93.

Singer was a pioneering molecular biologist whose research is widely admired for its rigor and creativity. Among her countless notable accomplishments, Singer helped decipher the inner workings of DNA and led landmark debates in the 1970s that established guidelines for the potential risks and ethical implications of genetic engineering.

Singer, president emeritus of Carnegie Science, a nonprofit research center in Washington, was also a renowned science administrator and a leader in science policy, ethics and advocacy. She championed the interests of women and people of color in science, promoted equal access to postgraduate training and career opportunities, and helped establish programs to improve science education in public schools.

Read more in The New York Times And The Washington Post

Singer is originally from Brooklyn, NY, and graduated from Swarthmore University with honors in chemistry and biology. In her 2004 essay “The Nurturing of a Scientist,” The significance of SwarthmoreSinger reflected on the ability of women of her own and subsequent generations to find their place in the sciences.

Singer in the 1951 edition of The Halcyon

“Swarthmore was and remains a place where young women can get an exceptional start in science,” she said. “Most importantly, the experience at Swarthmore prepared me to enter the scientific community and kept me in that community during these long and never easy years.”

In 2001, Singer’s family donated a laboratory to the college’s science center in her honor.

Her connection to Swarthmore deepened in 2019 when the college named its new Engineering, Biology, and Psychology building after her at the suggestion of the family of Eugene (Gene) Lang ’38, H’81. Singer Hall is one of the very few science buildings on an American college campus named after a woman.

“Maxine’s lifelong passion for discovery and commitment to increasing access to science education embody Swarthmore’s highest ideals,” said President Valerie Smith. “Her immeasurable contributions will inspire the scientific community for generations to come.”

Born on February 15, 1931, Singer attended public schools in Brooklyn, where her interest in science was first fostered. After Swarthmore, she earned a PhD in biochemistry from Yale University, specializing in the rare discipline of nucleic acid research.

During her research career, Singer helped bring about a fundamental change in the life sciences that led to the creation of the field of molecular biology.

In 1956, she moved to the Laboratory of Biochemistry at the National Institutes of Health, where she was part of a small group working on the new field of nucleic acid research. In 1975, she became head of the Nucleic Acid Enzymology Section at the Laboratory of Biochemistry at the National Cancer Institute, which she headed from 1980 to 1987.

Singer served as president of the Carnegie Institution of Washington, now known as Carnegie Science, from 1988 to 2002, and founded the Department of Global Ecology and established science education programs for students and teachers in Washington, DC.

“Singer changed the face of the organization not only because she was the first woman to hold that position but also because she led new scientific and educational initiatives with far-reaching impact,” Carnegie Science said in a citation.

Singer’s many honors include election to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the Pontifical Academy of Sciences. She also received the Public Welfare Medal from the National Academy of Sciences, and an oil painting of her hangs in the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, DC.

Singer’s career “represented a rare trifecta of excellence in scientific research, leadership, and public engagement,” notes Carnegie Science. In 1992, President George HW Bush awarded her the National Medal of Science in recognition of “her outstanding scientific achievements and her deep concern for the social responsibility of the scientist.”

Singer died after a battle with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and emphysema. She is survived by her husband, Daniel Morris Singer (born 1951), her four children – Amy (born 1982), Ellen (born 1983), David and Stephanie – and several grandchildren.