Jacqueline Barton

Jacqueline K. Barton
Jacqueline Barton, AIC Gold Medal, 2015
Born	New York City
Nationality	USA
Fields	Chemistry
Institutions	Bell Labs Yale Hunter College Columbia Caltech
Alma mater	Barnard College Columbia
Notable awards	NSF Waterman Award (1985) ACS Award in Pure Chemistry (1988) MacArthur Foundation fellow (1991) Garvan–Olin Medal (1992) Weizmann Women & Science Award (1998) ACS Gibbs Medal (2006) Linus Pauling Award (2007) National Medal of Science (2011) AIC Gold Medal (2015) Priestley Medal (2015)

External media

Audio
"Nature uses this for long-range signalling and finding mistakes in DNA", Jacqueline Barton: DNA like wire for signaling within a cell, EarthSky & Chemical Heritage Foundation
Video
"Science is the most fun in the whole wide world", Medal of Science 50 Videos -- Peter Dervan and Jacqueline Barton, National Science Foundation

Jacqueline K. Barton (born New York City, NY), is an American chemist. She worked as a Professor of Chemistry at Hunter College (1980–82), and at Columbia University (1983–89) before joining the California Institute of Technology (1989-to the present). In 1997 she became the Arthur and Marian Hanisch Memorial Professor of Chemistry and in 2009, the Chair of the Division of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering at Caltech. She currently is the John G. Kirkwood and Arthur A. Noyes Professor and Norman Davidson Leadership Chair of the Division of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering.

Barton studies the chemical and physical properties of DNA and their roles in biological activities. The primary focus of her research is transverse electron transport along double-stranded DNA, its implications in the biology of DNA damage and repair, and its potential for materials sciences applications such as targeted chemotherapeutic treatments for cancer. Among many other awards, Barton has received the 2011 National Medal of Science, the 2015 American Institute of Chemists Gold Medal and the 2015 Priestley Medal.

Jacqueline Kapelman attended Riverdale Country School for Girls in Riverdale, New York, where her math teacher, Mrs. Rosenberg, insisted that she be allowed to take calculus at the boys' school. Her interest in chemistry began at Barnard College, where she studied physical chemistry with Bernice Segal. She loved laboratory work and chemical transformations, and found Segal an inspiration as a teacher. During her last year at Barnard she married Don Barton, receiving her B.A. from Barnard College as Jacqueline Kapelman Barton, summa cum laude, in 1974.

She then studied inorganic chemistry at Columbia University under the supervision of Stephen J. Lippard. While at Columbia she began studying transition-metal complexes and their possible applications to chemotherapy. She earned a PhD in Inorganic Chemistry in 1979, addressing The structure and chemical reactivity of a blue platinum complex : the interaction of antitumor latinum drugs and matallointercalation reagent with nucleic acids.