Barbara Low (biochemist)

Barbara Low
Low in 1960
Born	Barbara Wharton Low (1920-03-23)March 23, 1920 Lancaster, England
Died	January 10, 2019(2019-01-10) (aged 98)[1] Riverdale, Bronx, New York, US
Nationality	British/American
Education	B.A. (1943), M.A. (1946), D.Phil. (1948)
Alma mater	Somerville College, Oxford
Known for	Discovery of penicillin structure, discovery of pi helix
Title	Professor of Biochemistry & Molecular Biophysics
Partner	Metchie J. E. Budka [pl]
Scientific career
Fields	Biochemistry, Biophysics
Institutions	Columbia University
Doctoral advisor	Dorothy Hodgkin
Notable students	Frederic M. Richards, Helen M. Berman, Clara Shoemaker

Barbara Wharton Low (March 23, 1920 – January 10, 2019) was a biochemist, biophysicist, and a researcher involved in discovering the structure of penicillin and the characteristics of other antibiotics. Her early work at Oxford University with Dorothy Hodgkin used X-ray crystallography to confirm the molecular structure of penicillin, which at the time was the largest molecule whose structure has been determined using that method. Later graduate work saw her study with Linus Pauling and Edwin Cohn before becoming a professor in her own right. Low's laboratory would accomplish the discovery of the pi helix, investigate the structure of insulin, and conduct research into neurotoxins.