Celebrating the Life and Legacy of Maxine Singer

Genetics and the Law: A Scientist’s View
Yale Law & Policy Review, 1985

Heroines and Role Models
Science, 1991

Thoughts of a Nonmillenarian
Bulletin of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 1997

Inspired Choices
Science, 1998 

Regulating Human Cloning
Science, 1998 

Believing Is Not Understanding 
The Washington Post, 1999 

Enhancing the Postdoctoral Experience
Issues in Science and Technology, 2000 

Shaping the Future for Women in Science
The American Society for Cell Biology Newsletter, 2000 

I met Maxine as a postdoc in Marnie Halpern's lab (then at Carnegie Embryology). It was Maxine's passion for making a difference in the science education of K-12 students that impressed me. So much so that when I was an Assistant Professor, I started BioEYES, a program that uses zebrafish to excite kids about science. When we launched BioEYE in 2002, I asked Maxine to advise our program. Maxine generously shared her wisdom, which is certainly one factor that helped us grow to a program that is all over the world and approaching 200,000 children served.

Maxine told me the following with regard to the state of science education in the US: Image when students were in primary grades, they learned the names of famous baseball players. Then, as they got older, they memorized the rules. In high school, they got to hold a ball and glove or maybe walk on the field. Never did they ever get a chance to play the game. She believed it was essential that every child have a chance to have a hands-on science experience.

Maxine Singer was Carnegie's president when I came to DTM (Department of Terrestrial Magnetism*) as a postdoc and remained so until several years after I was hired onto the scientific staff. She was an absolutely amazing scientist, administrator, and human being.

Despite being my boss's boss and in an utterly different field from me, she was always eager to talk science with me and listen to my ideas about, well, anything. I was lucky enough to live in the same neighborhood as her, so even long after she retired, I would regularly run into her on walks or at the grocery store, and she always wanted to catch up.

She is sorely missed.

*The Department of Terrestrial Magnetism merged with the Geophysical Laboratory to form the Earth and Planets Laboratory in 2020.

I was a Ph.D. student at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Professor Ernest Winocour’s laboratory when Maxine came with her family for a sabbatical. She became my mentor, colleague, guiding light in my academic journey, and a close friend. Over time, our relationship grew so deeply that my family and I came to see Maxine, Dan, and their children as part of our extended family. 

My first encounter with Maxine at the Weizmann Institute left a profound and lasting impression on both my scientific and personal life. I vividly recall standing in Ernest’s office as Maxine shared the groundbreaking news of Dan Nathans’ talk at the Gordon Conference, where he described the use of restriction enzymes to study SV40 DNA—heralding the dawn of a new era in molecular biology. I was fascinated and in awe to discover that this brilliant scientist, who would be joining our lab for a year, was accompanied by her husband Dan, a distinguished lawyer, and their four young children. This remarkable balance between her family life and her dedication to groundbreaking scientific research demonstrated that it is possible to excel in both realms simultaneously.

She inspired and mentored me, guiding me through critical professional decisions with wisdom and care. Above all, she treated me as an equal and a trusted friend.

I had the honor of being Maxine's primary care internist for 20 years. Maxine confirmed my career decisions and goals. She made me proud to be a primary care doctor. Her family is exemplary, and her dedication to it is obvious. Knowing that it is entirely possible to be your full professional self AND love and nurture your family is a role model we need for all. Thanks, Maxine!

Maxine was most impassioned about her work in science education. She shared with me her stories about her efforts to expand science education to youth. As a primary care doctor, I share this belief with her and wish we could expand our understanding of human disease at a young age so we all have more comfort and education about our human bodies over the lifespan. Maxine was an easy patient. She understood human biology and was accepting of her changes during her later life. We should all be so accepting!

I had the great privilege of working in Maxine’s lab at the NIH for 2 summers while I was in college. In 1977-78, molecular biology was just beginning to come of age, and Maxine was right at the forefront. I remember that the lab was a hub for many of the stars in the field who came to visit, and it was a very exciting but busy time. Nevertheless, Maxine was always able to make time to talk and troubleshoot with people in the lab. Soon after I arrived in the lab, I had to seed 200 plates of cells on a Friday for an experiment to begin on Monday. When I came into the lab after the weekend, I was crestfallen to discover that the plates were contaminated with yeast. I had had experience with tissue culture and, of course, was incredibly embarrassed, and I couldn’t understand how this had happened.

Rather than throwing this incompetent undergraduate out the door, Maxine sat down with me and said that there must be a logical explanation. After going over my whole day and not finding any red flags, Maxine remembered that I had mentioned to her that I enjoyed baking challah. Sure enough, that Thursday night, I had prepared challah and baked it in the morning. After that, my challah routine changed, and my cultures remained sterile. More importantly, I carry with me the lessons I learned from Maxine about respecting every person and taking the time to learn from even simple, silly mistakes to this day.

Maxine's excitement for science was infectious, and she helped direct me into my career in science, for which I am forever grateful. I remember an interview of Maxine with Bill Moyers in which she said that one of the reasons she went into science was that there are not many careers in the world in which you can say you learned something new every day. That excitement certainly inspired me, and I think all who knew her.

I knew Maxine slightly, and she knew me.  She had a close friendship with my director, Leonard Searle, which is the origin of my connection with Maxine.  I appreciate the kindness she showed me. 

Of course, she was a notable intellect, as was Leonard.  It was their friendship that ensured the construction of the Magellan telescopes in Chile; without that, Carnegie Astronomy might have died out.  We owe our careers to Maxine and Leonard's friendship and their intellect.

The last time I saw her, she told me of a new book on flowers she had just published.  I was amazed at her ability to continue to contribute to Science at the age of 87.