The chemistry department hosted Betty Klaas, a pioneering woman in STEM, as she celebrated another trip around the sun
Betty Klaas visits SDSU to celebrate her 99th birthday, meeting with members of the chemistry faculty and their research labs.
Forget a cake and candles. Pioneering chemist Betty Klaas wanted to celebrate her 99th birthday with chemistry.
On January 22, she and her family toured San Diego State University’s chemistry research laboratories, hosted by department chair Tom Huxford and many other members of the chemistry faculty. Betty is the widow of N. Paul Klaas, formerly an adjunct professor of chemistry at SDSU.
Betty began her career in 1947 as the first, or among the first, female chemists at chemical company Rohm & Haas in Philadelphia. Betty and Paul met in the ion exchange lab at Rohm & Haas, where Betty was Paul’s supervisor. She worked mostly on the isolation of streptomycin and Vitamin B-12 from fermentation liquors and the ion exchange separation of amino acids. As the Manhattan Project was winding down and the Atomic Energy Commission was replacing it, Betty and Paul both had “Q” (nuclear) clearance and worked on separation of materials of interest to the AEC.
“There have been extraordinary advances in chemistry since my time, and not just in the science. I was pleased to meet so many women faculty and chemists at SDSU, and delighted that they are so brilliant and nice!” Betty said.
“It was a genuine honor for our faculty, students and staff to host a visit from Mrs. Klaas for her birthday,” said Huxford. “Betty was truly a pioneer, working at a critical moment in our nation’s history to develop methods at mass production of antibiotics, vitamins, and other biologically important compounds, many of which remain scientifically and medically relevant to this day.”
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Betty Klaas and her family visit SDSU chemistry labs
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College of Sciences Dean and Chemistry Professor Jeff Roberts meets with Betty Klaas during her SDSU visit
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Associate Professor of bioanalytical chemistry, Laura-Isobel McCall, hosts Betty Klaas on a tour of her lab
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Betty Klaas working in her lab at Rohm & Haas Chemical Company in 1948
