Charlotte Auerbach ,R

Copyright 8 1995 by the Genetics Soriety of America Charlotte Auerbach (1899-1994) ,r I .. HARLOTTE AUERBACH,“LOTI-E” to all who knew SELMA,was the daughter of a general practitioner in C her, was born in Krefeld, Germany, in 1899. She Jauer, Silesia. She loved poetry, literature and music died in Edinburgh in March, 1994. She was born into and apparently had a very lively mind. a family that was already noted for its contributions to LO-ITE was thus born into a culturedand intellectual science. Her grandfather was credited with the discov- Jewish familyon the 14th of May, 1899. A few years later ery in 1862 of “Auerbach’s plexus,” collections of nerve her family moved to Berlin where she was to grow up. fibers within the walls of the intestine supplying its mus- Her interest in biology was kindled by her father who cle layers and controlling its peristaltic movements. One took time to teach her to identify birds and plants as of the stories LOTI-Eenjoyed telling about him empha- well as the constellations in the night sky. Indeed, I sized his absorbing interest in science. It relates to remember not so long after we arrived in Edinburgh events on his honeymoon in Wfirzburg. On arriving being invited to a very cold star-gazing party at Upper there he left his new wife in the hotel while he went in Gray Street when she proudly demonstrated her new search of a scientific colleague, a professor of anatomy telescope which stood mounted on its tripod in the and physiology. The discussion that followed wasso back yard ofher house. Natural history was one of her absorbing that her grandfather forgot his bride and father’s passions and heshared it with her, encouraging happily accepted a dinner invitation from the professor her curiosity and feeding her intelligence. Her interest for that evening. Later he remembered why he was in biology was not fostered in school, however, and she really in Wfirzburg and returned hurriedly to the hotel, received no formal instruction in the subject after she only to find his wife packing to returnto mother. Fortu- was 15. In spite of this she recalled an extracurricular nately, this forgetfulness was forgiven and the marriage lecture on the behavior of the chromosomes at cell was a happy one. division whichshe heard atsecondary school and which LOTTE’Sfather was a physical chemist who, himself, she described as one of her few truly spiritual experi- gained some distinction, graduating in Breslau in 1893 ences. She suddenly saw the field of biology opening and working first in the chemical industry and later in up before her and decided there and then to study it. the Ministry of Health in Berlin. In the latter position Her undergraduate years were spent, as was possible he became sufficiently senior tohave graduate students. in Germany, working in the Universities of Wfirzburg, He also did research on poisons, formaldehyde, and Freiburg and, finally, Berlin. Among her teachers dur- other agents. During this time he was initially coeditor ing this period were KNIEP, SCHLEIPand SPEMANN.In with EGG of the Handbuch o!er anorganischen Chemie 1924 she passed her Staatsexamen in biology, chemistry and later became its sole editor. LOTTE’Smother, and physics, but she doubted whether she could be Genetics 141: 1-5 (Septemher. 1995) 2 B. J. Kilbey original and independent enough to become a good ber of whom were, like LOTTE,refugees from totalitar- scientist and decided to train as a secondary school ian European regimes. Among thepeople she teacher. In addition to her doubts about her own abili- frequently spoke of from that time were GUIDOPONTE- ties, she also was very fond of children and was anxious CORVO, PI0 KOLLERand, later, the SLIZYNSKIS (BRONIS to maintain human contacts in her work. She also real- LAW and HELENA),who were closely involved withsome ized that a Jewish woman without private means would of LOTTE’Slater work well into the 1960s. In addition stand little chance of a career in a German university. to these more permanent members, CREW also man- So, in 1924 she completed her training as a teacher and aged to attract distinguished names to give lectures or for a short time she taughtin Heidelberg andFrankfurt. to work for a few weeks. These includeJULIAN HUXLEY, This period was not very happy and it was apparent J. B. S. HALDANE and, most importantly from LOTTE’S that she suffered greatly from the anti-Semitism of the standpoint, H. J. MULLER.These were pivotal years for other members of the staff and from some of the chil- her. She became a British citizen in 1939, and this dren. This ended in 1925 when she came into a small helped her to continue with her scientific career unim- legacy and started work on a Ph.D degree in Berlin- peded while manyother foreign scholars were interned. Dahlen at the Kaiser-Wilhelm-Institut ftir Biologie un- In fact, she records that, in the same post that brought der MANGOLD, but she was unhappy with her project. the news of her new nationality, came also the letter When she suggested to her professor that she would requiring thatshe register as an alien. Two weeksbefore prefer to change direction, he said, “You are my stu- the outbreak of war in 1939 her mother joined her dent, you do as I say. What you think is of no conse- from Germany. (Her father had died of a heart attack quence!” LOTTEwas not one to compromise in such a in 1925.) L~TTE’Sposition in the Institute was ill-de- situation and, assessing her prospects in the University fined and very poorly paid, but the realization of what as unpromising, she left to take up secondary school they had escaped in Nazi Germany was compensation teaching, this time in Berlin. for the leantimes they experienced at theoutset of the In view of her later success asa teacher of undergrad- 1940s. And there were other compensations. She recalls uates, it is perhaps surprising that she did not find that HANS GAL, the distinguished Austrian composer, teaching easy. Keeping order in class exhausted her, formed an orchestra from a group of German and Aus- and the increase in anti-Semitism that permeated soci- trian refugees in which LOTTE played the cello. ety at that time probably also conspired against her. It However, the person who influenced LOTTE’Ssubse- may have been a blessing in disguise, therefore, when quent scientific development most profoundly was HER- in 1933 all Jewish secondary school teachers were sum- MAN MULLER.He came to the Institute in 1938 and marilydismissed and she was forced again to think remained until 1940. CREW told MULLERin front of about her future. She took her mother’s advice, left LOTTEthat shewould do cytological workfor him. This Germany and, with the helpof familyfriends in London drew a quick refusal from her, “No, I’m sorry. I’m no and Edinburgh, was able to join the University of Edin- good at cytology.” CREWtold her that as his assistant burgh and to complete her Ph.D at the Institute of she should do what he said, and went away. MULLER, Animal Genetics. She received the degree in 1935 in however, assured her that he only wanted people to spite of initial difficulties that arose because of incom- work on his projects who were interested in them and patibilities between the German and theBritish systems later asked her what were her interests. She replied of education and because she had misunderstood the that she was interested in gene action in development. University regulations. At first her degree was refused MULLERthen remindedher that if she wanted to under- but it emerged that this was because she had only sub- stand the gene, it would be important first to under- mitted two thesis copies, one finished and the other stand what happens when it mutates. This eventually rough, which she had assumed was simply for the re- led to a discussion of substances that might react with cords. The latter had been sent to the examiner. With the gene material and cause it to mutate, and these the help of PIO KOLLER,who was at the Institute and exchanges were to set the course of her long career. was able to make enquiries of the examiners, the whole MULLER’Sinspiration and the observations of an Ed- thing was straightened out and the degree conferred. inburgh pharmacologist, A. J. CLARK,on the similarities The subject was the development of the legs of Dro- between the pharmacology of X rays and mustard gas sophila. led LOTTEto test the ability of mustard gas to cause The next few years were difficult. LOTTEbecame per- mutations. CLARKhad noted that thelesions produced sonal assistant to CREW.This involved cleaning cages of by mustard gas were slow to heal and tended to reap mice and budgerigars, which she quite naturally re- pear, as is the case for somatic lesions produced by X- sented, but shealso became involved in other activities rays. MULLERhad already reported the mutagenic ac- such as translation, teaching, and some research into tion of X rays, and the similarities between the lesions Mendelian genetics. The main compensation, however, caused by the twotypes of agent suggested that the was being in contact with the very lively group of work- induction of mutations might also be part of the action ers which CREWhad assembled at the Institute, a num- of mustard gas. In collaboration with J. M. ROBSON, C harlotte Auerbach Charlotte (1899-1994) 3 who had also noted this similarity, and using MULLER’S rearrange.

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