Helen Redfield
A pioneering geneticist who challenged convention by keeping her name and pursuing science while raising a family in the early 20th century.
1900–1988 (age 88)·American geneticist·Birthday: May 5·The Lost Generation
Biography
Helen Redfield carved a path in genetics when few women could. After blazing through her education, earning a Ph.D. from Berkeley by age 21, she brought a sharp, mathematical mind to biological questions. Her career was a tapestry of prestigious appointments—from Stanford to Columbia as a National Research Fellow—woven around the realities of her era. She married fellow scientist Jack Schultz and had two children, yet notably retained her maiden name, a statement of professional identity. Her research, often conducted while balancing teaching and family, contributed to the foundational understanding of heredity and mutation. Redfield's story is one of intellectual rigor and quiet perseverance, a scientist who advanced her field while navigating the personal choices that defined her life beyond the lab.
The Lost Generation
1883–1900
Came of age during World War I. Disillusioned by the carnage, they rejected the certainties of the Victorian era and built modernism from the wreckage — in art, literature, and politics.
Helen was born in 1900, placing them squarely in The Lost Generation. The events that shaped this generation — world wars, depression, and rapid industrialization — shaped the world they entered and the choices available to them.
#1 When Helen Was Born
The biggest hits of 1900
Helen's Life & Times
The world at every milestone
1900Born
Boxer Rebellion in China
President: William McKinley
1905Started school
Einstein publishes the theory of special relativity
President: Theodore Roosevelt
1913Became a teenager
The Federal Reserve is established
President: Woodrow Wilson
1916Could drive
The Battle of the Somme claims over a million casualties
President: Woodrow Wilson
1918Could vote
World War I ends; Spanish flu pandemic kills millions
President: Woodrow Wilson
1921Turned 21
First commercial radio broadcasts
President: Warren G. Harding"My Man" — Fanny Brice
1930Turned 30
Pluto discovered
Gas: $0.20/galHome: $3,510President: Herbert Hoover"Body and Soul" — Paul WhitemanBest Picture: All Quiet on the Western Front
1940Turned 40
The Blitz: Germany bombs London
Gas: $0.18/galHome: $2,938Min wage: $0.30/hrPresident: Franklin D. Roosevelt"I'll Never Smile Again" — Tommy DorseyBest Picture: Rebecca
1950Turned 50
Korean War begins
Gas: $0.27/galHome: $7,354Min wage: $0.75/hrPresident: Harry S. Truman"Goodnight Irene" — Gordon Jenkins & The WeaversBest Picture: All About Eve
1960Turned 60
Kennedy-Nixon debates become first televised presidential debates
Gas: $0.31/galHome: $11,900Min wage: $1.00/hrPresident: Dwight D. Eisenhower"Theme from A Summer Place" — Percy FaithBest Picture: The Apartment
1970Turned 70
First Earth Day; The Beatles break up
Gas: $0.36/galHome: $17,000Min wage: $1.60/hrPresident: Richard Nixon"Bridge over Troubled Water" — Simon & GarfunkelBest Picture: Patton
1980Turned 80
John Lennon shot and killed in New York
Gas: $1.19/galHome: $47,200Min wage: $3.10/hrPresident: Jimmy Carter"Call Me" — BlondieBest Picture: Ordinary People
1988Died at 88
Pan Am Flight 103 bombed over Lockerbie
Gas: $0.90/galHome: $74,800Min wage: $3.35/hrPresident: Ronald Reagan"Faith" — George MichaelBest Picture: Rain Man
Key Achievements
- Earned her Ph.D. in zoology from the University of California, Berkeley in 1921, a remarkably swift academic ascent.
- Became a National Research Fellow at Columbia University in 1925, a significant early-career honor.
- Joined the faculty of Stanford University in 1925, establishing herself in a major academic institution.
- Maintained an active research career in genetics while raising two children in the 1920s and 1930s.
Did You Know?
She worked in the mathematics department at Rice University as an undergraduate.
She retained her maiden name, Redfield, upon her marriage to Jack Schultz in 1926.
She returned to teaching as a fellow at New York University a decade after her Ph.D., in 1929.
“The linkage map for the X chromosome in Drosophila is now essentially complete.”
