Catherine Cassels Steele (17 September 1903 – 3 December 1995) was a Scottish scientist who is best known for her expertise in plant biochemistry. She wrote ''An Introduction to Plant Biochemistry''.

Early life and education

Steele was the daughter of James Steele, the former headmaster of St Monance school in

Fife Fife ( , ; ; ) is a council areas of Scotland, council area and lieutenancy areas of Scotland, lieutenancy area in Scotland. A peninsula, it is bordered by the Firth of Tay to the north, the North Sea to the east, the Firth of Forth to the s ...

. Steele's early education began at West Calder at the age of five. After moving to

St Monans St Monans (, ), sometimes spelt St Monance, is a village and parish in the East Neuk of Fife and is named after the legendary Saint Monan. Situated approximately west of Anstruther, the small community, whose inhabitants used to make their liv ...

and by age 12, her secondary educational experience occurred at Waid Academy in

Anstruther Anstruther ( ; ) is a coastal town in Fife, Scotland, situated on the north-shore of the Firth of Forth and south-southeast of St Andrews. The town comprises two settlements, Anstruther Easter and Anstruther Wester, which are divided by a st ...

. In 1920, Steele entered the

University of St Andrews The University of St Andrews (, ; abbreviated as St And in post-nominals) is a public university in St Andrews, Scotland. It is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, oldest of the four ancient universities of Scotland and, f ...

graduating in 1924 with a First Class Honours in mathematics and natural philosophy. She continued to study at the University, and in 1925 received a BSc with Special Distinction in chemistry, physics and mathematics. She joined the

Edinburgh Mathematical Society The Edinburgh Mathematical Society is a mathematical society for academics in Scotland. History The Society was founded in 1883 by a group of Edinburgh school teachers and academics, on the initiative of Alexander Yule Fraser FRSE and Andrew ...

soon after. She changed fields to study chemistry and earned her PhD in 1928. Steele was a Commonwealth Fellow, where she travelled to the United States to continue her research at

University of Illinois The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC, U of I, Illinois, or University of Illinois) is a public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Champaign–Urbana metropolitan area, Illinois, United ...

for two years and then at

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

Professional life

Steele taught at the Ladies' Branch of the Horticultural College,

Swanley Swanley is a town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Sevenoaks District of Kent, England, southeast of central London, adjacent to the Greater London boundary and within the M25 motorway periphery. The population at the 2021 ce ...

, Kent (later the Swanley Horticultural College) in the 1930s where many middle-class women learned

horticulture Horticulture (from ) is the art and science of growing fruits, vegetables, flowers, trees, shrubs and ornamental plants. Horticulture is commonly associated with the more professional and technical aspects of plant cultivation on a smaller and mo ...

. She later returned to the USA. Her book ''An Introduction to Plant Biochemistry'' was first published in 1934, with a second edition released in 1949. The book aims to assist botany students with no training in organic chemistry for studies of plant biochemistry. Steele wrote the book following support from Professor John Read with whom she collaborated on books such as ''Researches in the Methane Series Part VI'' and ''Part VII'' and ''The Optically Active Diphenylhydroxyethylamines and isoHydrobenzoins''.

Personal life

Steele married Louis Hamilton Bock in 1934. Together they had two sons.Birth Announcements. ''The Scotsman''. October 20, 1939 and February 27, 1942. Steele died on 3 December 3, 1995 in

Lacey, Washington Lacey is a city in Thurston County, Washington, United States. It is a suburb of Olympia, Washington, Olympia with a population of 53,526 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List of municipalities in Washington, 24th mos ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Steele, Catherine Scottish biochemists Scottish women chemists 20th-century Scottish chemists 1903 births 1995 deaths People educated at Waid Academy Alumni of the University of St Andrews University of Illinois alumni 20th-century Scottish women scientists Scottish women botanists 20th-century Scottish botanists

Early life and education

Professional life

Personal life

See also

References