Margaret Menzel

Last updated
Margaret Young Menzel
Born
Margaret Mary Young

June 21, 1924 [1]
Kerrville, Texas
DiedMay 30, 1987
Alma materUniversity of Virginia
Scientific career
InstitutionsFlorida State University
Thesis The cytotaxonomy and genetics of Physalis and related genera  (1949)
Doctoral advisor Orland Emile White

Margaret Young Menzel was a geneticist known for her research on chromosomes and meiosis in a range of organisms including tomatoes, flowering plants, and worms. Menzel was also an advocate for equal opportunities for women and led a 1972 class action suit against Florida State University.

Contents

Education and career

In 1944, Menzel graduated magna cum laude from Southwestern University in Texas where she majored in biology and English. Following this, she taught for a year at Lamar University before beginning her Ph.D. with Orland Emile White at the University of Virginia working on the genetics of Physalis , a type of flowering plant. [2] Following her Ph.D. she held multiple positions including periods at the Texas Agricultural Experiment Station and the United States Department of Agriculture. [1] She moved to Florida State University and was promoted to professor in 1968. [3] She retired as professor emeritus.[ when? ] [4]

Menzel was actively involved in the Association of Southeastern Biologists, including periods as vice president and editor of the ASB Bulletin from 1972 until 1977. [5] [6]

Research

Menzel was known for her research on chromosomes, meiosis, and genetic relationships between organisms. She conducted this research on a broad array of species including plants such as Physalis [7] and Hibiscus , [8] [9] the nematode Schistosoma, [10] [11] and agricultural crops such as tomatoes. [12] Her work with Meta Brown on cotton plants centered on cotton cytogenetics and translocated chromosomes. [13] [14] Plants she collected during a 1960 sampling expedition to the Florida Panhandle remain in the herbarium at Florida State. [15]

Lawsuit against Florida State University

Menzel was an advocate for women's rights as she supported equal pay for women [16] and was involved in the formation of the Florida chapter of the National Organization for Women. [1]

In June 1972, a class action lawsuit (Margaret Menzel v. Florida State University et al. Docket No. TCA 1834) was filed in United States District Court, Northern District of Florida [17] and Menzel's case is one of the cases cited as a key part of extending Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Menzel's complaint centered on discrimination in pay and promotion; she was joined by nine other women working at Florida State University. [18] At the time of the class action suit it was the first case where female professors used a court action to demand equal pay and status; one of the arguments was that sex discrimination began when men took over the administration of what had been Florida State College For Women [19] when it admitted men and became Florida State University in 1947. [20] A federal judge did not agree to back pay in 1973. [21] In 1975, the case was settled with an agreement that Florida State would establish a task force to investigate bias against women at the university and to revise its anti-nepotism policy so as to not discriminate against the wives of university employees. [22] Menzel later served as a witness for Laura Jepsen in her successful 1976 suit against Florida State University for gender discrimination. [23]

Selected publications

Awards and honors

She received the Senior Research Award from the Association of Southeastern Biologists in 1950 and the Meritorious Teaching Award from the association in 1985. [1] [5] In 1988 the Department of Biological Sciences at Florida State University established the Margaret Y. Menzel Scholarship to recognize outstanding progress in graduate student research. [24] Since 1989 the Botanical Society of America has awarded the Margaret Menzel Award each year for an outstanding paper presented at their annual meeting. [25] In 2000, Florida State University began a program allowing faculty with named professorships to select the name used and in 2002, Walter R. Tschinkel opted to honor Menzel by becoming the "Margaret Menzel Professor of Biological Science". [26]

Personal life

Menzel met her husband, the malacologist R. Winston Menzel, while she was at the University of Virginia. [1] [27] They collaborated on one project on quahog clams which was published in 1965. [28]

Related Research Articles

<i>Physalis</i> Genus of flowering plants

Physalis is a genus of approximately 75 to 90 flowering plants in the nightshade family (Solanaceae), which are native to the Americas and Australasia. At least 46 species are endemic to Mexico. Cultivated and weedy species have been introduced worldwide. A defining feature of Physalis is a large, papery husk derived from the calyx, which partly or fully encloses the fruit. Many species bear edible fruit, and some species are cultivated.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">G. Ledyard Stebbins</span> American botanist and geneticist (1906-2000)

George Ledyard Stebbins Jr. was an American botanist and geneticist who is widely regarded as one of the leading evolutionary biologists of the 20th century. Stebbins received his Ph.D. in botany from Harvard University in 1931. He went on to the University of California, Berkeley, where his work with E. B. Babcock on the genetic evolution of plant species, and his association with a group of evolutionary biologists known as the Bay Area Biosystematists, led him to develop a comprehensive synthesis of plant evolution incorporating genetics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cherry tomato</span> Tomato variety

The cherry tomato is a type of small round tomato believed to be an intermediate genetic admixture between wild currant-type tomatoes and domesticated garden tomatoes. Cherry tomatoes range in size from a thumbtip up to the size of a golf ball, and can range from spherical to slightly oblong in shape. Although usually red, other colours such as orange, yellow, green, purple, and black also exist. Those shaped like an oblong share characteristics with plum tomatoes and are known as grape tomatoes. The cherry tomato is regarded as a botanical variety of the cultivated berry, Solanum lycopersicum var. cerasiforme.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">ZW sex-determination system</span> Chromosomal system

The ZW sex-determination system is a chromosomal system that determines the sex of offspring in birds, some fish and crustaceans such as the giant river prawn, some insects, the schistosome family of flatworms, and some reptiles, e.g. majority of snakes, lacertid lizards and monitors including Komodo dragons. It is also used in some plants where it has probably evolved independently on several occasions. The letters Z and W are used to distinguish this system from the XY sex-determination system. In the ZW system, females have a pair of dissimilar ZW chromosomes, and males have two similar ZZ chromosomes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tomato</span> Edible berry of the tomato plant, Solanum lycopersicum

The tomato is the edible berry of the plant Solanum lycopersicum, commonly known as the tomato plant. The species originated in western South America, Mexico, and Central America. The Nahuatl word tomatl gave rise to the Spanish word tomate, from which the English word tomato derived. Its domestication and use as a cultivated food may have originated with the indigenous peoples of Mexico. The Aztecs used tomatoes in their cooking at the time of the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire, and after the Spanish encountered the tomato for the first time after their contact with the Aztecs, they brought the plant to Europe, in a widespread transfer of plants known as the Columbian exchange. From there, the tomato was introduced to other parts of the European-colonized world during the 16th century.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Walter R. Tschinkel</span> American entomologist

Walter R. Tschinkel is an American myrmecologist, entomologist and Distinguished Research Professor of Biological Science and R.O. Lawton Distinguished Professor emeritus at Florida State University. He is the author of the Pulitzer Prize nominated book The Fire Ants, the book Ant Architecture: The Wonder, Beauty, and Science of Underground Nests, and more than 150 original research papers on the natural history, ecology, nest architecture and organization of ant societies; chemical communication in beetles; and the mysterious fairy circles of the Namib desert. His casts of ant nests and botanical drawings appear in numerous museums of art and natural history, from Hong Kong to Paris.

Áskell Löve was an Icelandic systematic botanist, particularly active in the Arctic.

Solanum huaylasense is a species of plant in the family Solanaceae. It is endemic to Peru.

Solanum arcanum is a species of nightshade, commonly called the "wild tomato," endemic to Peru.

Archana Sharma was a renowned Indian botanist, cytogeneticist, cell biologist, and cytotoxicologist. Her widely recognized contributions include the study of speciation in vegetatively reproducing plants, induction of cell division in adult nuclei, the cause of polyteny in differentiated tissues in plants, cytotaxonomy of flowering plants, and the effect of arsenic in water.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lowell Fitz Randolph</span>

Lowell Fitz Randolph was an American scientist, in the field of genetics, botany and horticulture. He was a Cornell University graduate who became Professor of Botany and was also employed as an associate cytologist for the United States Department of Agriculture. He was also an avid iris collector and wrote a book on the Iris genus. He carried out important research into plant chromosomes of iris, orchid genus and corn plants. He was sometimes known as "Fitz" by his many friends and associates.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Solanaceae</span> Family of flowering plants that includes tomatoes, potatoes and tobacco

The Solanaceae, or the nightshades, are a family of flowering plants that ranges from annual and perennial herbs to vines, lianas, epiphytes, shrubs, and trees, and includes a number of agricultural crops, medicinal plants, spices, weeds, and ornamentals. Many members of the family contain potent alkaloids, and some are highly toxic, but many—including tomatoes, potatoes, eggplant, bell and chili peppers—are used as food. The family belongs to the order Solanales, in the asterid group and class Magnoliopsida (dicotyledons). The Solanaceae consists of about 98 genera and some 2,700 species, with a great diversity of habitats, morphology and ecology.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Laura Jepsen</span> American academic

Laura Jepsen was a professor of comparative literature at Florida State University.

James Herbert Taylor was an American molecular biologist and geneticist known for his research on chromosome structure and reproduction, which helped establish standards for the subsequent field of molecular genetics. He conducted much of this research with his wife, Shirley Taylor. According to a 2006 Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory textbook, “Taylor comes as close as anyone to being the father of the field” of studying chromosomes.

Spencer Wharton Brown was a professor and cyto-geneticist. He taught and did research at the University of California, Berkeley, from 1945 until his murder on June 10, 1977. Brown was internationally renowned and sometimes referred to as "Mr. Chromosome." He was the president of the International Congress of Genetics. Brown was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1956 in the field of plant studies. He was the first to identify what is called paternal genome elimination in scale insects.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mildred Hoge Richards</span> American geneticist and zoologist

Mildred Albro Hoge Richards was an American geneticist and zoologist who discovered, among other things, the gene responsible for development of the eye.

Raymond "Ray" Carl Jackson was an American botanist, known "for his work in cytogenetics, particularly on polyploidy, and for his discovery of low chromosome numbers in angiosperms."

John Cameron Semple is a botanist, cytotaxonomist, professor emeritus, and adjunct professor at the University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada. He was born in Boston and earned a degree of Bachelor of Science in 1969 from Tufts University, followed in 1971 and 1972 by Master of Arts and Doctor of Philosophy degrees from Washington University in St. Louis. Semple is known for his work with members of the tribe Astereae, particularly goldenrods, American asters, and goldenasters, and he maintains the University of Waterloo Astereae Lab website. Semple's wife is Brenda, and in 2013, he named a newly discovered goldenrod species Solidago brendiae in honor of her.

Calliphysalis carpenteri, or Carpenter's groundcherry, is a perennial plant in the family Solanaceae, the "nightshade" plants. Native to sandy soils on the coastal plain regions of southeastern North America from northern Florida to Louisiana and Arkansas, it was first described from specimens collected in West Feliciana Parish, Louisiana. Its species name honors the botanical contributions of early Louisiana naturalist William Marbury Carpenter (1811-1848).

Marion Elizabeth Cave was an American plant embryologist and cytogeneticist. She obtained her PhD from University of California, Berkeley where she pioneered the approach to distinguish plant taxonomy using genetics. She continued this work at Berkeley as a research associate. While there, she would be the first person to count the chromosomes in algae, earn her a Guggenheim fellowship in 1952. In addition to her research, she was success at obtaining National Science Foundation funding to create a service that would annually inform how many chromosomes each plant species had to help the field of plant cytology flourish. For her contributions, Volume 33 of Madroño, a genus (Marionella) of Delesseriaceae, and a subgenus (Mscavea) of Echeandia were all dedicated to her.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Hasenkampf, Clare (1987). "Obituary: Margaret Young Menzel 1924-1987". The ASB Bulletin. Raleigh, N.C., etc.: Association of Southeastern Biologists. 33 (34): 168–169 – via Biodiversity Heritage Library.
  2. ↑ Young, Mary Margaret. The cytotaxonomy and genetics of Physalis and related genera. Charlottesville, Va. 1949.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location (link)
  3. ↑ "Faculty Promotions Announced". St. Petersburg Times. February 17, 1968. p. 7.
  4. ↑ "Dr. Margaret Y. Menzel - FSU Biological Science Professor Emeritus". 2004-01-21. Archived from the original on 2004-01-21. Retrieved 2021-10-10.
  5. 1 2 "A brief summary of events in the life of the Association of Southeastern Biologists" (PDF). Southeastern Biology. Vol. 82, no. 2. April 2012. p. 82.
  6. ↑ "1987 in the FSU Biological Science History project". 2004-01-25. Archived from the original on 2004-01-25. Retrieved 2021-10-10.
  7. ↑ Menzel, Margaret Young (1951). "The Cytotaxonomy and Genetics of Physalis". Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society. 95 (2): 132–183. ISSN   0003-049X. JSTOR   3143331.
  8. ↑ Menzel, Margaret Y.; Wilson, F. D. (1961). "Chromosomes and Crossing Behavior of Hibiscus cannabinus, H. acetosella, and H. radiatus". American Journal of Botany. 48 (8): 651. doi:10.2307/2439052. JSTOR   2439052.
  9. ↑ Menzel, Margaret Y.; Wilson, F. D. (1969). "Genetic Relationships in Hibiscus Sect. Furcaria". Brittonia. 21 (2): 91. doi:10.2307/2805520. JSTOR   2805520. S2CID   10120212.
  10. ↑ Short, Robert B.; Menzel, Margaret Y. (1960). "Chromosomes of Nine Species of Schistosomes". The Journal of Parasitology. 46 (3): 273–287. doi:10.2307/3275488. JSTOR   3275488. PMID   14446186.
  11. ↑ Short, Robert B.; Menzel, Margaret Y.; Pathak, Sen (1979). "Somatic Chromosomes of Schistosoma mansoni". The Journal of Parasitology. 65 (3): 471–473. doi:10.2307/3280303. ISSN   0022-3395. JSTOR   3280303. PMID   480083.
  12. ↑ Menzel, Maegaret Y.; Price, J. M. (1966). "Fine Structure of Synapsed Chomosomes in F1 Lycopersicon Esculentum-Solanum Lycopersicoides and Its Parents". American Journal of Botany. 53 (10): 1079–1086. doi:10.1002/j.1537-2197.1966.tb06875.x. ISSN   1537-2197.
  13. ↑ Menzel, Margaret Y.; Brown, Meta S. (1955). "Isolating Mechanisms in Hybrids of Gossypium gossypioides". American Journal of Botany. 42 (1): 49. doi:10.2307/2438593. JSTOR   2438593.
  14. ↑ Menzel, Margaret Y.; Brown, Meta S. (1954). "The Tolerance of Gossypium hirsutum for Deficiencies and Duplications". The American Naturalist. 88 (843): 407–418. doi:10.1086/281851. ISSN   0003-0147. JSTOR   2458714. S2CID   83675275.
  15. ↑ mwdenslow (2017-12-01). "How to Handle the Cotton Relative Specimens from the Experimental Station". Notes from Nature. Retrieved 2021-10-10.
  16. ↑ "$ for Women". The Spokeswoman. 3 (3): 1. September 1, 1972 – via JSTOR.
  17. ↑ Roberts, Sylvia (January 15, 1973). Equality of opportunity in higher education - the impact of contract compliance and the equal rights amendment (PDF). Annual meeting of the Association of American Colleges. San Francisco, CA. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2020-07-11. Retrieved October 10, 2021.
  18. ↑ "FSU Professors File Discrimination Suit". Sarasota Journal. June 22, 1972. p. 4.
  19. ↑ "FSU Female Professors Sue For Equal Rights". Daytona Beach Morning Journal. June 23, 1972.
  20. ↑ Dobson, Byron (May 13, 2017). "Florida State University pays tribute to 70 years as a coed university". Tallahassee Democrat. Retrieved 2021-10-10.
  21. ↑ "Won't Order Back Pay". The Tuscaloosa News. August 15, 1973.
  22. ↑ "Task Force Against Discrimination Set". Ocala Star-Banner. January 17, 1975. p. 6.
  23. ↑ "Dismissal Denied in Sex Bias Suit". Daytona Beach Morning Journal. June 8, 1976.
  24. ↑ "Graduate Scholarships • FSU Bio Grad". www.bio.fsu.edu. Retrieved 2021-10-10.
  25. ↑ "Margaret Menzel Award - Genetics". botany.org. Retrieved 2021-10-10.
  26. ↑ "FSU - Biological Science". www.bio.fsu.edu. 2002. Retrieved 2021-10-10.
  27. ↑ Stickney, Robert (1989). "In Memoriam: Robert Winston Menzel, Sr. 1920-1989" (PDF). Retrieved October 10, 2021.
  28. ↑ Menzel, R. Winston; Menzel, Margaret Y. (August 1965). "Chromosomes of Two Species of Quahog Clams and Their Hybrids". The Biological Bulletin. 129 (1): 181–188. doi:10.2307/1539776. JSTOR   1539776.
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