Dr. Helen Murray Free - Deceased '78, '93

Dr. Free and her husband, Alfred, invented and perfected a chemically coated dip-and-read stick that when dipped in a urine sample would display specific colors to correlate whether a patient had indicators of a particular illness.

Dr. Free attended the College of Wooster intending to become a teacher.  With World War II wreaking havoc across the globe, she was nudged into chemistry.   When she completed her degree in 1944 she obtained a position with Miles Laboratories (Bayer), testing the quality of vitamin ingredients.  Her real interest was in biochemistry and when a position opened up, she jumped at the chance.  It was there that she met her future husband, Dr. Alfred Free.  After two years of working together, they married and became lifelong research partners, holding several patents and coauthoring books.  They were both inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame and the Science and Engineering Hall of Fame, retiring in 1982.

Helen remained a consultant to Bayer until 2007.  She chaired the National Chemistry Week Task Force of the American Chemical Society (ACS) for five years, received ACS’s Garvan Medal (which honors distinguished service to chemistry by a woman).  In addition, she served as president of the ACS, serving as the third of only seven women to do so.  ACS instituted an award in her honor in 1995, The Helen M. Free Award in Public Outreach.  She received an Honorary Doctorate from CMU in 1993 and in 2010 she received the National Medal of Technology and Innovation, the highest honor bestowed by the U.S. Government for scientists.