Helen Murray Free's research in clinical chemistry not only revolutionized diagnostic testing in the laboratory but also in the home. She developed dry reagents for urinalysis testing as well as "dip-and-read" glucose tests that diabetics could use at home. Free and her husband, Albert, coauthored Urinalysis in Laboratory Practice in 1975, which still remains a standard in the field. Because of the tremendous impact of her work, Free has been awarded many honors, including the Garvan Medal (1970), The Honor Scroll Award of the Chicago chapter of the AIC (1967), the Kilby Foundation Award (1996); in 2000 she was inducted into the National Inventor's Hall of Fame.

Throughout her career Helen Murray Free has been an active advocate of science education. From 1987 to 1992, she chaired the American Chemical Society's (ACS) National Chemistry Week Task Force. In 1993 she was elected president of the ACS. Because of her extraordinary work in the public science education, the ACS instituted the Helen M. Free Award in Public Outreach in 1995. She was the first recipient.

Helen Murray was born on February 20, 1923 to Daisy Piper and James Summerville Murray in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. In 1941 she graduated from Poland (Ohio) Seminary High School as valedictorian and then went on to the College of Wooster, where she graduated with a B.S. in chemistry in 1944. That same year she accepted a position as a control chemist for Alka-Seltzer at Miles, Inc. (which later became Bayer). She worked her way up the corporate ladder and she is now Professional Relations Consultant in the Diagnostic Division. Free has also been awarded seven patents for her clinical diagnostic test inventions.

Early on at Miles, Helen collaborated with biochemist Alfred Free and later they co-authored two books. Helen married Alfred Free in 1947 and they had six children. Alfred Free died in May 2001.

http://web.mit.edu/invent/www/inventorsA-H/free.html

http://abcnews.go.com/onair/WorldNewsTonight/00915_21stcentury_free_chat.html

http://www.kilby.org/lau_past.html

http://www.invent.org/hall_of_fame/63.html

http://www.ethosinc.org/ETHOSpages/board.html

1. Free, Helen M. "ACS Dream Team: The Right Chemistry." Chemical and Engineering News, January 4, 1993, pp 2–3.
2. Seymour, Raymond B. "Helen Murray Free (1923–)" in Women in Chemistry and Physics, A Biobibliographic Sourcebook by Grinstein, Louise S.; Rose, Rose K.; and Rafailobich, Miriam H. Greenwood Press: Westport, Connecticut, 1993; pp 201–206.
3. Shearer, Benjamin F. and Shearer, Barbara S., ed. Notable Women in the Physical Sciences: A Biographical Dictionary; Greenwood Press: Westport, Connecticut, 1997; pp 110–112.
4. "Garvan Medal." Chemical and Engineering News, September 10, 1979, pp 74–5.