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The Academic Life of Dr. Ida Rolf Dr Ida Pauline Rolf (1896 - 1979) was born in New York. Although we now know a lot of her work on Structural Integration or Rolfing (See: http://www.anatomytrains.com/at/library/progenitors/ida-rolf), not much is written about her biochemistry academic life. Until recently Sam Johnson has compiled a wonderful account of her early life http://www.samjohnsonrolfing.com/article_1.html Dr. Rolf attended Barnard College in NY and graduated in 1916 in the middle of World War I. At the time, young men were fighting in Europe, and she was given a unique opportunity for a woman to work as a researcher at the Rockefeller institute as well as getting a PhD. Dr. Rolf worked at the Rockefeller Institute in NY under the supervision of Phoebus Aaron Levene MD (1869-1940). PA Levene is the head of the biochemical laboratory at the Rockefeller Institute of Medical Research since 1905. He is a renown biochemist who identified the components of DNA: adenine, guanine, thymine, cytosine, deoxyribose, and a phosphate group. Her work becomes her PhD at Columbia University. She obtained her PhD in biochemistry from the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Columbia University in 1920. Her PhD dissertation is titled: THREE CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE CHEMISTRY OF THE UNSATURATED PHOSPHATIDES. The topic of her research is unsaturated phosphatides, not fascia. After graduated, Ida Rolf continued to work with Levene at the Rockefeller Institute, first in the Department of Chemotherapy and later in the Department of Organic Chemistry. As described by Rosemary Feities, she rose to the rank of Associate, no small achievement for a young woman in those days. From 1919 to 1927 she published 16 scholarly journal papers, mostly in a prestigious Journal of Biological Chemistry. Her research is laboratory studies on biochemical compound: lecithin and cephalin. During that time, the head of the Institute got to be the first author for all the papers, although the works and papers are written by Dr. Rolf. Her work on phosphatides probably summarised in her 1921 review paper:
Her later works: Plant phosphatides. I. Lecithin and cephalin of the soy bean. (1925) Plant phosphatides. II. Lecithin, cephalin, and so called cuorin of the soy bean. (1926)
It was stated that: "Until Levene & Rolf [1925; 1926] published the results of their study of soya bean phosphatides, plant phosphatides were usually supposed to be varieties of lecithin and the only acid components which had been reported were palmitic, stearic and oleic. Levene & Rolf, showed that more than one type was present, including products less soluble in alcohol than lecithin, and that the phosphatides sparingly soluble in alcohol and also the alcohol-soluble forms." Her most highly cited paper is: "The preparation and purification of lecithin" which is a note describing how to prepare lecithin in laboratory:
Her meticulous laboratory work can be observed in her writing:
In 1927, she left her academic work for health and family problems. She took leave to study mathematics and atomic physics at the Swiss Technical University in Zurich. Her initial idea is speculating on what was going to happen to behaviour if you changed the chemistry of a body. The first way to change the chemistry of the body is to change the physics. After returning to America, she later developed Structural Integration. In late 1930s she studied yoga with Pierre Berbard in Nyack, New York. She has a total of 16 academic papers in the field of biochemistry from 1919 to 1927. It is an exceptional achievement, especially for a woman in that era. She has 2 papers (in scholarly journals) on structural integration. The total no. of citations is 299, and h index of 10. Note: In scientific community, the number of citations of a paper reflect the impact of the research. The higher the no. of citations, it meant the paper (work) is highly regarded by other peers. The h index is an index to rank the productivity and impact of a scientist. h index of 10 means that Dr. Rolf's top 10 papers have been cited at least 10 times. List of Publications - Dr. Ida P. Rolf - (from ISI. Number of citations are until February 2007). 1. Jacobs WA, Heidelberger M, Rolf IP, On certain aromatic amines and chloroacetyl derivatives JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY 41: 458-474 MAR 1919 Times Cited: 58 2. Levene PA, Rolf IP, Cephalin. VII. The glycerophosphoric acid of cephalin. JOURNAL OF BIOLOGICAL CHEMISTRY 40 (1): 1-16 NOV 1919 Times Cited: 5 3. Levene PA, Rolf IP, Structure and significance of the phosphatides - Bibliography PHYSIOLOGICAL REVIEWS 1 (3): 327-393 JAN 1921 Times Cited: 14 4. Levene PA, Rolf IP, Lechitin. III. Fatty acids of lechitin of the egg yolk. JOURNAL OF BIOLOGICAL CHEMISTRY 46 (1): 193-207 MAR 1921 Times Cited: 19 5. Levene PA, Rolf IP, Lecithin. IV. Lecithin of the brain. JOURNAL OF BIOLOGICAL CHEMISTRY 46 (2): 353-365 APR 1921 Times Cited: 15 6. Levene PA, Rolf IP, Unsaturated fatty acids of brain lecithins. JOURNAL OF BIOLOGICAL CHEMISTRY 54 (1): 99-100 SEP 1922 Times Cited: 10 7. Levene PA, Rolf IP, Unsaturated fatty acids of brain cephalins. JOURNAL OF BIOLOGICAL CHEMISTRY 54 (1): 91-98 SEP 1922 Times Cited: 21 8. Levene PA, Rolf IP, Lysolecithins and lysocephalins. JOURNAL OF BIOLOGICAL CHEMISTRY 55 (4): 743-749 APR 1923 Times Cited: 13 9. Levene PA, Rolf IP, Simms HS Lysolecithins and lysocephalins. II. Isolation and properties of lysolecithins and lysocephalins. JOURNAL OF BIOLOGICAL CHEMISTRY 58 (3): 859-871 JAN 1924 Times Cited: 26 10. Levene PA, Rolf IP, Synthetic lecithins. JOURNAL OF BIOLOGICAL CHEMISTRY 60 (3): 677-683 JUL 1924 Times Cited: 3 11. Levene PA, Rolf IP, Plant phosphatides. I. Lecithin and cephalin of the soy bean. JOURNAL OF BIOLOGICAL CHEMISTRY 62 (3): 759-766 JAN 1925 Times Cited: 7 12. Levene PA, Rolf IP, Bromolecithins. I. Fractionation of brominated soy bean lecithins. JOURNAL OF BIOLOGICAL CHEMISTRY 65 (2): 545-549 SEP 1925 Times Cited: 3 13. Levene PA, Rolf IP, Bromolecithins. II. Bromolecithins of the liver and egg yolk. JOURNAL OF BIOLOGICAL CHEMISTRY 67 (3): 659-666 MAR 1926 Times Cited: 6 14. Levene PA, Rolf IP, Plant phosphatides. II. Lecithin, cephalin, and so called cuorin of the soy bean. JOURNAL OF BIOLOGICAL CHEMISTRY 68 (2): 0285-0293 MAY 1926 Times Cited: 4 15. Levene PA, Rolf IP, Note on the preparation of cephalin. JOURNAL OF BIOLOGICAL CHEMISTRY 74 (3): 713-714 SEP 1927 Times Cited: 15 16. Levene PA, Rolf IP, The preparation and purification of lecithin. JOURNAL OF BIOLOGICAL CHEMISTRY 72 (2): 587-590 APR 1927 Times Cited: 74
17. Rolf IP, VERTICAL - Experiential Side to to Human Potential. JOURNAL OF HUMANISTIC PSYCHOLOGY 18 (2): 37-39 1978 Times Cited: 0 18. Rolf IP, Structural Integration - Contribution to understanding of stress. CONFINIA PSYCHIATRICA 16 (2): 69-79 1973 Times Cited: 6 19. Rolf IP, 1977. Rolfing: Reestablishing the Natural Alignment and Structural Integration of the Human Body for Vitality and Well-Being. Healing Arts Press. (Book). Times Cited: 10
Reference: Feitis, Rosemary. 1985. Rolfing and Physical Reality. Healing Arts Press. An Interview with Ida Rolf. Somatics 1979.
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