by Josh Forman, Head of Science, Education & Outreach
Charlotte, known as Lotte, was a true trailblazer of the genetics world, with an immense strength of character, but chances are, you don’t know anything about her, or what she did. However, her work has certainly had a major impact on you, and it feels like it is common knowledge now – which is often the case for the biggest of discoveries. Lotte, on a personal level, was clearly way ahead of her time, standing up for herself and her beliefs, not allowing herself to be curtailed or bullied as a scientist in her own right.
Lotte Auerback proved that chemicals can cause genetic mutations. In our day to day, we tend to know about this as ‘X causes cancer’. A chemical that causes a genetic mutation is known as a mutagen (a carcinogen is one that specifically causes cancer).
We are constantly taking in mutagens into our body via air pollution (benzene), cigarette smoke, food preservatives, processed meats, pesticides and some plastics to name but a few. It seems so obvious to us now, but in the 1940’s it wasn’t. So many chemicals introduced to society in the name of progress and efficiency are now known to be mutagens – for example if you’ve ever seen the film Dark Waters, and the controversy of DuPont contaminating the water around its factories, you’ll know one such example. The safety laws and environmental considerations that we now have in place are all based on Lotte Auerbach’s breakthrough.
This is nothing to mention of the technical understanding her breakthrough provided, and the major stepping stone into our understanding of what DNA is and how it works.
Lotte worked specifically on mustard gas as a mutagen – and she was the first person to prove that a chemical could cause a gene mutation. The work was initially classified by the government, as it was deemed too sensitive to be published, although she received wide acclaim once published.
Born on 14th May 1899 in Krefeld, Germany, Lotte was the only child of Friedrich and Selma Auerbach. High achieving ran in the family. One grandfather was a professor, the other was a doctor. An uncle was a physics professor, another a renowned concert pianist, her father was a chemist and a cousin a musicologist. The family was highly successful and clearly achieved very well. Lotte also described her and her father as ‘nicht glaubig’ (non–religious), so they were part of the Haskalah, or ‘enlightened Jews’.
Lotte went to university to study biology and chemistry, and initially took up positions as a secondary school teacher in 1924. In 1928, after teaching briefly at the University of Frankfurt, and coming into some inheritance, she started a PhD at the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Biology in Berlin-Dahlem under the tutelage of Otto Mangold. She abandoned this by 1929 due to the unpleasant, dictatorial manner of her tutor (who later became an active member of the Nazi party), plus her self-funding ran out. Lotte returned to teaching in a series of girls’ schools, which she did until 1933, when she was dismissed due to anti-Jewish laws brought in by the newly elected Nazi Party.
At this point and at her mothers insistence, Lotte fled to the UK with her mother, settling in Edinburgh through some connections. It was here that Lotte then completed her PhD. Her thesis was about the development of legs in drosophila (fruit flies). This led her to meeting several scientists working in the field of genetics and mutation, most formatively Hermann Joseph Muller. Hermann was the pre-eminent geneticist in the world, who later went on to win a Nobel prize for his discovery of X-rays being carcinogenic, and introduced Lotte to the study of mutations as the key to understanding a gene’s function.
Interestingly, Auerbach originally refused to work with Muller because her tutor introduced her to Muller with the line: ‘this is Lotte and she is going to do cytology for you’. Lotte refused and an argument ensued. Later, Muller returned, apologetically stating he wouldn’t dream of having anybody work for him that wasn’t interested in the project. His enthusiasm for his research, along with a genuine conversation about hers, persuaded her. From their professional relationship, Lotte began investigating the effect of mustard gas on drosophila. She was the first to prove that a chemical could cause a change in the DNA code – a mutation. Her work was classified by the government (due to the use of mustard gas), before eventually being published in 1947.
Lotte Auerbach stayed at the University of Edinburgh for the rest of her career, becoming a Professor of Genetics in 1967 and retired as Professor Emeritus in 1969 having made significant contributions to the understanding of how our DNA interacts with the world around us.
Auerback was clearly someone that stood her ground and held her principles in high regard. Whilst never marrying, she unofficially adopted two boys. One, Michael Avern was also an escapee from Germany and the Nazis, and the second, Angelo Alecci was placed with her by Save the Children. She was also active in her support for the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, fiercely opposed to apartheid and considered a ‘liberal’. In 1947, she also published a book of children’s fairy tales called ‘Adventures with Rosalind‘, under the pen name Charlotte Austen.
Sources: https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/pdf/10.1098/rsbm.1995.0002
