Joyce Jacobson was born on June 21, 1929 to Robert and Sara (Seldin) Jacobson, who later divorced. Joyce was a precocious child who knew she wanted to be a chemist by the age of eight after reading a biography of Marie Curie. A gifted student in mathematics and science, Joyce attended a school for exceptional students from which she graduated seventh in a class of 300.

At Johns Hopkins University, Clark Bricker gave Jacobson the opportunity to do research in quantitative analysis during her freshmen year. Walter S. Koski, her physical chemistry professor, also mentored her. Before graduating, she married Stanley Kaufman, an engineer. She graduated in 1949 with a B.S. in chemistry with honors. For the next two years Joyce Kaufman worked as a librarian at the Army Chemical Center and in 1950 became a research chemist there. Her mentor, Walter S. Koski, invited Kaufman back to Johns Hopkins to work on a research project with him and over the next few years finally persuaded her to get a Master’s degree (1959) and then a Ph.D. (1960) in physical chemistry. In addition, she earned a D.E.S. in theoretical physics from the Sorbonne (1963). In the meantime, Joyce and her husband Stanley had a daughter, Jan Caryl, born on June 24, 1955. Over the years, Jan has traveled with her mother to scientific conferences all over the world.

Dr. Kaufman accepted a position as a scientist in the quantum chemistry group in 1960 at the Martin Company’s Research Institute for Advanced Studies. She later advanced to staff scientist and then head of the group. Dr. Kaufman worked on ab-initio quantum chemical calculations on polyatomic molecules such as diborane. After that she applied quantum calculations to drug and biological molecules. In 1972 she introduced the concept of conformational topology and applied it to biomedical molecules. Kaufman published a landmark paper in 1980 in which she described a new theoretical method for coding and retrieving certain carcinogenic hydrocarbons. She was invited by NSF to use the CRAY XMP (1985) and YMP (1989) supercomputers at the San Diego Supercomputer Center.

Since 1969, Kaufman has held a joint appointment in the chemistry department and the school of medicine at Johns Hopkins University. In addition to postdoctoral associates and distinguished visiting scientists, Kaufman has about ten undergraduates working in her research group. Her rapport with the undergraduates is extraordinary; she serves as an inspiration to them.

Frequently an invited speaker at a large number of international conferences and scientific institutes, Kaufman has also received numerous awards. She was awarded the Garvan Medal in 1974 by the American Chemical Society, the Martin Company Gold Medal for Outstanding Scientific Accomplishments (1964, 1965, 1966), and elected to the American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics. Dr. Kaufman has served on editorial advisory boards for publishers of scientific books and journals.

1. Bailey, Martha J. American Women in Science, 1950 to the Present: A Biographical Dictionary; ABC-CLIO: Santa Barbara, CA, 1998; pp 206–207.
2. Koski, Walter S. “Joyce Jacobson Kaufman (1929–)”. In Women in Chemistry and Physics, A Biobibliographic Sourcebook; Grinstein, Louise S.; Rose, Rose K.; Rafailobich, Miriam H., Eds.; Greenwood Press: Westport, Connecticut, 1993; pp 299–313.
3. Notable Women in the Physical Sciences: A Biographical Dictionary; Shearer, Benjamin F.; Shearer, Barbara S., Eds.; Greenwood Press: Westport, CT, 1997; pp 223–227.