Witkin, Evelyn
Biography
Evelyn M. Witkin, born Evelyn Maisel on March 9, 1921, was an American geneticist whose research has been widely influential in the areas of DNA mutagenesis and DNA repair. A native New Yorker, Evelyn Witkin received her Bachelor’s degree from New York University in 1941 and her Ph.D. from Columbia University in 1947.
Witkin was interested in DNA mutagenesis and the nature of DNA repair mechanisms, and pursued research on bacterial DNA at the Carnegie Institution of Washington Department of Genetics in Cold Spring Harbor, NY with Milislav Demerec. Witkin continued her research at the C.I.W. Department of Genetics for ten years. During this time, Witkin’s research focused on how bacteria could repair DNA damage caused by ultraviolet (UV) radiation.
A pioneer in the field of biological responses to DNA damage, Witkin made history in the mid-1940s with her first experiments. She identified a strain of E. coli bacteria known as B/r that was more resistant to radiation than the parental B strain. This was the first time mutations conferring resistance to radiation had been isolated.
Wilkin’s research since the completion of her PhD was based on DNA mutagenesis, and her mutagenesis work led to her work on DNA repair. By characterizing the phenotypes of mutagenized E. coli, she and colleague Miroslav Radman (at the time a post-doctoral student at Harvard) detailed the SOS response to UV radiation in bacteria in the early 1970s. She continued to work on the mechanism of the SOS response until she retired in 1991. The SOS response to DNA damage was a seminal discovery because it was the first coordinated stress response to be elucidated.
Witkin was elected as a member of the National Academy of Sciences in 1977. At the time, she was one of the few women elected to the Academy. She was also elected a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 1980, and a Fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology. She was awarded the 2000 Thomas Hunt Morgan Medal and her contributions to science have been recognized by the United States government when she was awarded the National Medal of Science in 2002.
Witkin died at the age of 102 on July 8, 2023. She is survived by her son, Joseph Witkin, and four grandchildren.
Found in 9 Collections and/or Records:
Cairns, Witkin & Martienssen Clips
Carnegie Institution of Washington at Cold Spring Harbor Administrative Records
Evelyn Witkin, 2000-06-01
Evelyn Witkin Correspondence and bound copies of Microbial Genetics Bulletin
Kitty Brehme Warren
The scrapbooks Kitty Brehme Warren maintaned are a primarily visual record of life at the laboratory from 1926 through 1950. Included in these two volumes are many photographs of lab personnel and visitors, the buildings and grounds, and both research-related and recreational events. Several symposium programs and clippings are also included. Dr. Brehme Warren's detailed notations and identifications are reproduced in the index.
Barbara McClintock Collection
The Barbara McClintock Collection consists of 10 series pertinent to the life of a world-renowned plant geneticist and Nobel prize winner. There are materials relevant to both her personal life as well as her scientific work. Within the series, you will find correspondence, published materials, photographs, slides, negatives, artifacts, and memorabilia.
Oral History Collection
Postcard requests for reprints from J. R. S. Fincham, Andre Lwoff, and others, 1949-1959
Includes from J. R. S. Fincham, Andre Lwoff, Fritz Lipmann, A. Lipshutz, Evelyn M. Witkin, L. Michaelis, Theodore T. Puck, Hans H. Ussing, and others
Evelyn Witkin Collection
The collection includes correspondence with scientific colleagues, her seminal work on the SOS response, and a collection of Witkin's reprints, as well as copies of Microbial Genetics Bulletin, a periodical that Witkin edited.
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- Collection 5
- Archival Object 3
- Unprocessed Material 1
- Subject
- Cold Spring Harbor (N.Y.) 3
- Correspondence 3
- Genetics 2
- Laurel Hollow (N.Y.) 2
- Mutagenesis 2
- Photographs 2
- Reprints 2
- Washington (D.C.) 2
- Women in Science 2
- Accessions Registers 1
- Administration 1
- Administrative Records 1
- Articles and Reprints 1
- Audio Visual 1
- Bacterial genetics 1
- Bacteriophages 1
- Biology Scholarships, fellowships, etc. 1
- Blueprints 1
- Clippings (information artifacts) 1
- Community relations 1
- Corn 1
- Corn—Genetics 1
- DNA Repair 1
- Discrimination in sports 1
- Drosophila melanogaster 1
- Employee Fringe Benefits 1
- Employee Selection 1
- Escherichia coli 1
- Eugenics 1
- Graduate students 1
- Grant Proposals 1
- Grants and funding 1
- Great Depression 1
- Laboratory Exhibitions 1
- Laboratory Notebooks 1
- Lantern slides 1
- Leases 1
- Ledgers (Account Books) 1
- Maps 1
- Meetings 1
- Memorabilia 1
- Memorandums 1
- Minutes 1
- New York 1
- Nobel Prize Winners– United States 1
- Pamphlets 1
- Penicillin--History 1
- Personnel Records 1
- Philanthropists 1
- Plant biology 1
- Plant genetics 1
- Polyploidy 1
- Program Budgeting 1
- Punched Cards 1
- Reports 1
- Reprints (Publications) 1
- SOS Response 1
- Science Publishing 1
- Science Study and teaching 1
- Slides 1
- Students, Foreign 1
- Wolf Foundation Prizes 1
- Women Geneticists 1
- Women Scientists 1
- World War, 1939-1945 1 + ∧ less