 Mary Amdur was born in 1921 in Donora , Pennsylvania . She received a bachelor 's degree in chemistry in 1943 from the University of Pittsburgh , moving to Cornell University to study biochemistry at the postgraduate level . She received her PhD in biochemistry in 1946 , writing her thesis on the " Role of Manganese and Choline in Bone Formation in the Rat " . After achieving her PhD , she worked at the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary before joining Philip Drinker 's team at Harvard School of Public Health in 1949 . By 1953 she had married another scientist in the field , Benjamin Amdur , with whom she had a son , David . 
