HISTORY MINUTE

The twentieth century in the United States was marked by incredible progress in science, transforming a nation of farmers spending their lives working with their animals and the strength in their hands into a technological powerhouse where electricity, computers, instantaneous communications, and hightech machinery are indispensable to every facet of life. These achievements were due to the work of men and women in numerous fields. It was also in the last century that women were able to make significant contributions to science in large numbers for the first time. One of those pioneers in scientific research and leadership was chemist Mary L. Good.

Her story began in Grapevine, Texas, then a tiny farming community just northeast of Fort Worth. She was born Mary Lowe in 1931, one of four children to a husband-and-wife team of educators. Since education was the family business, its importance was never lost on her as her parents encouraged her to study and eventually go to college. In 1942, at the age of 11, her father, John Lowe, accepted a job as a school principal in Kirby, a small community west of Arkadelphia. After a few years, the family moved again to Willisville in neighboring Nevada County. As a youngster, she set up her own photo development lab in her home, with no experience and no one to teach her. “I’ve never been afraid to do new things,” she said in an interview.

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