Harriette Chick

Who was Harriette Chick?

Dr. Dame Harriette Chick, DBE was a British protein scientist and nutritionist. She was born into a methodist family, the fifth of eleven children. Her father owned property and sold lace. While studying at University College London, Chick won awards for botany- the advanced-class prize in 1894-1895 and the senior-class Gold Medal in 1896.Educated at Notting Hill & Ealing High School, she served as secretary of the League of Nations health section committee on the physiological bases of nutrition from 1934 to 1937. She was awarded a D.Sc. from London University for her work on green algae in polluted waters. In 1941 she was a founding member of the Nutrition Society, of which she served as president from 1956 to 1959.

Chick and Charles James Martin discovered that the process of protein denaturation was distinct from protein coagulation, beginning the modern understanding of protein folding. She is known for having formulated Chick's Law in 1908, giving the relationship between the kill efficiency of organisms and contact time with a disinfectant. Chick's Law was later modified by Dr. H.E. Watson in 1908 to include the coefficient of specific lethality. The Chick-Watson Equation is still used.