Maud Menten facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Maud Leonora Menten
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| Born | 20 March 1879 Port Lambton, Ontario
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| Died | July 17, 1960 (aged 81) Leamington, Ontario, Canada
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| Nationality | Canadian |
| Alma mater | University of Toronto |
| Known for | Michaelis-Menten equation, contributions to enzyme kinetics and histochemistry |
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| Thesis | The Alkalinity of the Blood in Malignancy and Other Pathological Conditions; Together with Observations on the Relation of the Alkalinity of the Blood to Barometric Pressure (1916) |
Maud Leonora Menten (born March 20, 1879 – died July 17, 1960) was a Canadian scientist. She made very important discoveries in how enzymes work and how to study chemicals in body tissues. She is best known for her work with Leonor Michaelis in 1913. Together, they developed a famous equation about how fast enzyme reactions happen.
Maud Menten was born in Port Lambton, Ontario. She studied medicine at the University of Toronto. She earned several degrees there, including her medical doctorate in 1911. She was one of the first women in Canada to become a medical doctor. At that time, it was hard for women to do research in Canada. So, she chose to do her research in other countries like the United States and Germany.
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Who Was Maud Menten?
Maud Menten's family moved to Harrison Mills, British Columbia. Her mother worked as a postmistress there. After finishing high school, Maud went to the University of Toronto. She earned a bachelor's degree in 1904. Then, she got a master's degree in how the body works (physiology) in 1907. While studying, she also worked as a helper in the university's physiology lab.
Maud wanted to do more medical research. But there were not many chances for women in Canada back then. So, in 1907, she went to New York City. She got a special scholarship at the Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research. There, she studied how radium bromide affected cancer in rats. Maud and two other scientists published their findings. This was the first major report from the Rockefeller Institute. After a year, Maud returned to Canada. She finished her medical studies at the University of Toronto in 1911.
Discovering the Michaelis-Menten Equation
In 1912, Maud Menten returned to medical research. She worked with a famous surgeon named George Washington Crile. He was known for controlling acid-base balance during surgery. Around this time, she met Leonor Michaelis. He was an expert in pH and chemical buffers.
Maud became very interested in Michaelis's early work on how enzymes work. Even though his lab in Berlin was small, she decided to travel across the sea to work with him.
Michaelis and Menten studied how fast enzyme reactions happen. They found that the speed of a reaction depends on how much of the enzyme and the substance it acts on (called the substrate) are combined. They wrote down this relationship as an equation:
This equation shows how the reaction speed (v) changes with the amount of substrate (a). It uses two constants, V and Km. Another scientist, Victor Henri, had a similar equation before. But he did not fully understand its importance or how to use it simply.
The Michaelis-Menten equation shows that each enzyme works only on specific substances. It also shows that the reaction speed increases until it reaches a maximum. This happens as the amount of substrate increases. The constant Km is now called the Michaelis constant. The paper where they explained this equation is Maud Menten's most famous work.
Other Important Discoveries
After her research in Berlin, Maud Menten went to the University of Chicago. She earned her PhD in biochemistry there in 1916. In 1923, she still could not find a good academic job for women in Canada. So, she took a job at the medical school at the University of Pittsburgh. She also worked as a pathologist at the Children’s Hospital in Pittsburgh.
Even with two demanding jobs, Maud kept up her research. She wrote or helped write over 70 scientific papers. She became an associate professor quickly. But she was not made a full professor until she was 70 years old. This was just one year before she retired.
Maud Menten did a lot of work on a chemical called alkaline phosphatase. She invented a special staining method called the azo-dye coupling reaction. This method is still used today to study tissues. A major textbook from the 1950s called her invention "a stroke of genius."
She also studied harmful substances made by bacteria. These included bacteria that cause scarlet fever. Her work helped create a successful program to protect people from scarlet fever in Pittsburgh in the 1930s and 1940s. In 1944, she was the first to separate blood hemoglobin proteins using a method called electrophoresis. She did this before Linus Pauling, who is usually given credit for this discovery. She also studied how hemoglobin works, how the body controls blood sugar, and how kidneys function.
Maud Menten continued to research cancer, especially in children. She also studied other illnesses that affect children. After retiring from the University of Pittsburgh in 1950, she went back to Canada. She continued her cancer research at the British Columbia Medical Research Institute from 1951 to 1953.
Maud Menten had to retire in 1955 because of poor health. She passed away on July 17, 1960, at the age of 81, in Leamington, Ontario.
Personal Life and Legacy
Maud Menten was described as a small but energetic woman. She loved wearing colorful dresses and unique hats. For 32 years, she drove a Model T Ford around the University of Pittsburgh area. She also enjoyed many fun and artistic hobbies. She played the clarinet and painted pictures good enough for art shows. She loved climbing mountains and even went on an Arctic trip. She also enjoyed studying stars. By the time she died, she knew several languages. These included Russian, French, German, Italian, and at least one Native-American language called Halkomelem. Even though she did most of her research in the United States, she always remained a Canadian citizen.
After Maud Menten's death, her colleagues Aaron H. Stock and Anna-Mary Carpenter wrote about her. They said she worked tirelessly to help sick children. They also said she was an inspiring teacher. She encouraged her students and fellow researchers to do their best. They remembered her for her sharp mind, dignity, modesty, wit, and her passion for research.
In 1998, she was added to the Canadian Medical Hall of Fame. The University of Toronto honored her with a plaque. The University of Pittsburgh has memorial lectures and a special named position in her honor. In 2015, her birthplace, Port Lambton, Canada, put up a bronze plaque to remember her.
See also
In Spanish: Maud Menten para niños
