Lucy Engel Graves Taliaferro (25 July 1895 – 22 December 1984) was an American parasitologist and professor, notable for her research in parasitology and immunology. She and her husband, William Hay Taliaferro, worked together as research partners from 1919 to 1973. She worked as a researcher in her husband's parasitology laboratory for over 30 years at the University of Chicago, where she co-taught a parasitology course with William and achieved the rank of Assistant Professor, although she was never paid. After retiring from the University of Chicago in 1960, the Talioferros researched the effects of ionizing radiation on the immune response at Argonne National Laboratory and coauthored Radiation and Immune Mechanisms (1964).
Biography
Lucy Engel Graves was born on July 25, 1895, in Cleveland, Ohio, to her parents, Clara Walter and Herbert Cornelius Graves. Lucy studied biology at Goucher College from 1913 to 1917 and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in 1917 after election to Phi Beta Kappa. While a student at Goucher College, Lucy traveled to Washington, D.C., with about thirty other students to participate in a women's suffrage picket outside of the White House. Students had been barred from participating by the president of Goucher College, President William W. Guth, due to the political unrest at the time, and Lucy and her fellow students were reprimanded. Lucy's political activity has led her to since be recognized as a suffragist.
Following her graduation from Goucher College, Lucy studied invertebrate zoology for the summer at the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, Massachusetts. Here she met William Hay Taliaferro, whom she would later marry, although they were both engaged to other people at the time. After her summer studies, Lucy taught high school science for a year in Alexandria, Virginia, before working as a chemist-clerk for the Gas Defense Division of the Chemical Warfare Service of the United States Army, abstracting German articles on gases. In 1918, she was transferred to New York City, where she again encountered William, who was also working for the army in the Division of Chemical Warfare at Yale. The two eventually disengaged their previous fiancees and became engaged to each other, marrying on June 6, 1919.
The newly married couple moved near Baltimore, Maryland, where Lucy had enrolled at Johns Hopkins University School of Hygiene and Public Health, working as a technical assistant in the department of medical zoology. In 1922, Lucy published her first paper, “The Resistance of Different Hosts to Experimental Trypanosome Infections,” with William, who was a member of the faculty. She received her Sc.D. in 1925 after publication of her thesis, “Infection and Resistance in Bird Malaria.”
Following her graduation from Johns Hopkins University, Lucy and William moved to Chicago to work at the University of Chicago. William had joined the Department of Hygiene and Bacteriology in 1924, becoming a full professor in 1927, and Lucy worked as a research associate in his lab. The Taliaferros worked together as a research team and traveled throughout Europe and the Americas for thirty-six years, including ten three-month trips to Central and South America. During their time at the University of Chicago, the Taliaferros studied malarial parasites, the host-parasite relationship, and the mechanisms of the formation of hemolysin and antibody, as well as researching the antimalarial mechanisms of quinine during World War II. Together, they published over 100 works.
In addition to her scientific work, Lucy also co-taught a parasitology course at the University of Chicago with William and Frances Coventry, a former classmate from Goucher. Lucy achieved the rank of Assistant Professor; however, despite this accomplishment and her extensive scientific career, Lucy was unpaid by the University of Chicago.
The Taliaferros retired from the University of Chicago in 1960 and moved to Lemont, Illinois to work at the Argonne National Laboratory. At Argonne, Lucy and her husband studied the effects of ionizing radiation on the immune system and together published their book Radiation and Immune Mechanisms in 1964.
In 1969, the Taliaferros retired from Argonne National Laboratory and lived the rest of their lives in LaGrange, Illinois. William passed away on December 21, 1973. Lucy died on December 22, 1984. The Taliaferros are buried together in Virginia, where William was born and raised.