Shyamala Gopalan facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Shyamala Gopalan
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| Born | December 7, 1938 |
| Died | February 11, 2009 (aged 70) Oakland, California, U.S.
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| Other names | Gopalan Shyamala, G. Shyamala |
| Education |
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| Known for | Progesterone receptor biology and applications to breast cancer Mother of Vice President Kamala Harris |
| Spouse(s) | |
| Children | |
| Parent(s) | P. V. Gopalan (father) Rajam Gopalan (mother) |
| Scientific career | |
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| Thesis | The isolation and purification of a trypsin inhibitor from whole wheat flour (1964) |
| Doctoral advisor | Richard L. Lyman |
Shyamala Gopalan (born December 7, 1938 – died February 11, 2009) was an American biomedical scientist. She was born in British India. Her important work helped us understand more about breast cancer. She found and studied a special gene called the progesterone receptor.
Shyamala Gopalan was the mother of Kamala Harris. Kamala Harris is now the Vice President of the United States. Shyamala was also the mother of Maya Harris, who is a lawyer and a political expert.
Contents
Early Life and Education
Shyamala Gopalan's parents were P. V. Gopalan and Rajam Gopalan. Her father worked for the Indian government. Her family came from small villages in Tamil Nadu, South India. Her father was from Thulasendrapuram, and her mother was from Painganadu.
Shyamala's father started his career as a stenographer. He later joined important government services. This meant the family moved often. They lived in cities like Madras (now Chennai), New Delhi, Bombay (now Mumbai), and Calcutta (now Kolkata).
Her parents had an arranged marriage. But they were open-minded when raising their children. All their children chose unique paths in life. Shyamala was a very talented singer of Carnatic music. She even won a national singing contest when she was a teenager.
Studying in India
Shyamala studied for her first degree, a Bachelor of Science (BSc), at Lady Irwin College. This was a top college for women in India. She studied Home Science, which taught skills for managing a home. Her father thought this subject was not challenging enough for her. Her mother wanted her children to become doctors, engineers, or lawyers.
Moving to America for Higher Studies
In 1958, when Shyamala was 19, she applied to a master's program. She wanted to study nutrition and hormones (endocrinology) at the University of California, Berkeley. She was accepted! Her parents used some of their savings to pay for her first year. They did not have a phone at home. So, they sent her letters by aerogram to talk to her in the US.
Shyamala earned her PhD in nutrition and endocrinology in 1964. This was also at UC Berkeley. Her research for her PhD was about finding and cleaning a special protein from whole wheat flour.
Career in Science
Shyamala Gopalan did research at UC Berkeley. She worked in the Department of Zoology and the Cancer Research Lab. She also worked as a breast cancer researcher at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Later, she worked at the University of Wisconsin.
She spent 16 years working at the Lady Davis Institute for Medical Research. She also worked at the McGill University Faculty of Medicine. Shyamala helped review research for the National Institutes of Health. She also served on a special committee about breast cancer. She taught and guided many students in her lab. For the last ten years of her research career, Shyamala worked at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.
Important Research
Shyamala's research greatly improved our understanding of hormones. This was especially important for learning about breast cancer. She found and studied the progesterone receptor gene in mice. This discovery changed how scientists researched how hormones affect breast tissue. Her work helped lead to new ways to fight breast cancer.
Family Life
In 1962, Shyamala met Donald J. Harris. He was a student from Jamaica. They met at a student group meeting at Berkeley. Donald Harris is now a retired economics professor at Stanford University. He said they kept talking after that first meeting.
In 1963, Shyamala and Donald got married. They did not follow the usual traditions. They did not introduce Donald to Shyamala's parents beforehand. They also did not have the wedding in her hometown in India.
In the late 1960s, Donald and Shyamala took their daughters, Kamala and Maya, to Zambia. Shyamala's father was working there as an advisor. Shyamala divorced Donald in the early 1970s. After that, she often took her daughters to India. They visited her parents in Chennai, where they had retired. The girls also visited their father's family in Jamaica as they grew up.
Later Years and Passing
Shyamala Gopalan passed away from colon cancer in Oakland on February 11, 2009. Instead of flowers, she asked people to donate to Breast Cancer Action. This is an organization that helps fight breast cancer.
Later in 2009, her daughter Kamala Harris took her ashes to Chennai. She scattered them in the Indian Ocean waters.
See also
In Spanish: Shyamala Gopalan para niños
