Dr. Harriet Hardy, Harvard Professor, Dies at 87 (original) (raw)
Dr. Harriet Hardy, Harvard Professor, Dies at 87
https://www.nytimes.com/1993/10/15/obituaries/dr-harriet-hardy-harvard-professor-dies-at-87.html
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- Oct. 15, 1993
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October 15, 1993
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Dr. Harriet L. Hardy, a pioneer in occupational medicine and the first woman to become a full professor at Harvard Medical School, died on Wednesday in Boston. She was 87.
Dr. Hardy died from lymphoma, a cancer of the immune system, at the Massachusetts General Hospital, where she had worked since 1940, hospital officials said.
Dr. Hardy set out to become a country doctor but developed an early interest in toxicology and environmentally related illness. Her investigation of respiratory illness among factory workers in Lynn and Salem, Mass., in the mid-1940's led to the discovery that they had come down with berylliosis, an often fatal disease caused by exposure to the light metal beryllium.
Berylliosis results from inhaling dust or fumes containing beryllium, but the symptoms may not emerge until 10 to 20 years after exposure to even a small amount of the metal. The disease, which develops in only a small percentage of people who are exposed, can produce coughing, shortness of breath, weight loss and scarring of the lungs. Created a Model Registry
Dr. Hardy set up a registry of beryllium illness that the hospital still maintains. The registry became a model for tracking other occupational hazards and establishing guidelines for their control.
In 1947, Dr. Hardy created an occupational medicine clinic at the hospital and remained its director until she retired in 1971. Dr. Hardy also led the occupational medical service at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge for more than 20 years and advised the institute on safety considerations relating to its first nuclear reactor. She also helped coordinate the study of industrial diseases at Dartmouth College.
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