Mary Bidwell Breed

Mary Bidwell Breed (September 15, 1870 – September 15, 1949) was an American chemist. In 1901 she became the first female dean of Indiana University and her chemistry work with aromatic acids.

Mary Bidwell Breed was born on September 15, 1870 in Pittsburgh. She was educated at Bryn Mawr College, where she received three degrees and her PhD in 1901, and Heidelberg University. She wrote The Polybasic Acids of Mesitylene[1], published in 1901, which discussed her chemistry work with aromatic acids, mainly derivatives of benzene

Before finishing her doctorate Breed was head of the science department at Pennsylvania College for Women. Her research focus was on aromatic acids and the atomic weight of palladium. Breed was the dean of women at Indiana University from 1901 to 1906 (the first female dean at the university), a position from which she denounced the segregation of men and women into certain academic fields. Breed was also a member of the teaching faculty of Indiana University. Breed's term at Indiana University, the status of the position of Dean of Women began to decline. Many universities and colleges across the country reported that the women in these positions were not as accepted among the mostly male dominated faculty. Her work is not well documented after 1906.

Breed died on her 79th birthday in 1949 in Newton, New Jersey. She is buried at Homewood Cemetery in Pittsburgh.