{{short description|Australian haematologist}} {{distinguish|Ruth Sager}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} {{Infobox scientist |name = Ruth Sanger |birth_name = Ruth Ann Sanger |image = Ruth Sanger c1950.jpg |caption = Ruth Sanger c. 1950 |image_size = |birth_date = 6 June 1918 |birth_place = Southport, Queensland, Australia |death_date = {{death-date and age|4 June 2001|6 June 1918}} |death_place = Putney, London, England |spouse = Robert Russell Race (1956-1984) |other_names = |education = Sydney University <br /> University of London |known_for = Haematology, serology |awards = {{Plainlist| * Gairdner Foundation International Award{{small|(1972)}} * }} |relatives = Fred Sanger (first cousin) }} '''Ruth Ann Sanger''' {{post-nominals|country=AUS|FRS}}<ref name=frs/> (6 June 1918 – 4 June 2001) was an Australian immunogeneticist, haematologist and serologist. She was known for her work on human red cell antigens and for the genetic mapping of the human X chromosome.<ref name=":3">{{Cite web|url=http://wellcomelibrary.org/item/b17539109|title=Election of Ruth Sanger as Fellow of the Royal Society|website=Wellcome Library|access-date=2019-11-23}}</ref> She was Director of the Medical Research Council Blood Group Unit, of the Lister Institute of Preventive Medicine from 1973 to 1983.
She worked closely with Robert Russell Race from the 1940s, and they married in 1956. They co-authored many papers after 1948, and co-wrote six editions of a leading work on blood groups, ''Blood Groups in Man'', which helped make blood transfusions safer.<ref name=":0">{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2001/07/04/world/ruth-sanger-82-expert-on-blood-grouping.html|title=Ruth Sanger, 82, Expert on Blood Grouping|date=2001-07-04|work=The New York Times|access-date=2019-11-23|issn=0362-4331}}</ref> The book was known as "Race and Sanger", which were published between 1950 and 1975.<ref>[http://wellcomelibrary.org/collections/digital-collections/makers-of-modern-genetics/digitised-archives/robert-race-ruth-sanger/ Ruth Sanger archive collection] – Wellcome Library finding aid</ref>
==Education and early life== Sanger was born in Southport, Queensland, Australia and had four siblings.<ref name=":2">{{Cite journal|last1=Hughes-Jones|first1=Nevin|last2=Tippett|first2=Patricia|date=December 2003|title=Ruth Ann Sanger. 6 June 1918 – 4 June 2001|journal=Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society|volume=49|pages=461–473|doi=10.1098/rsbm.2003.0027|pmid=14989272|issn=0080-4606|doi-access=free}}</ref> Her father, Rev. Hubert Sanger, became headmaster of Armidale School in New South Wales. She was first cousins with Frederick Sanger, the biochemist and two-time winner of the Nobel prize.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Brownlee|first=George G.|date=2015-12-31|title=Frederick Sanger CBE CH OM. 13 August 1918 — 19 November 2013|journal=Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society|volume=61|pages=437–466|doi=10.1098/rsbm.2015.0013|issn=0080-4606|doi-access=free}}</ref>
She received her early education in New South Wales at three schools: Harleyville Ladies College (1924–1926), New England Girls school, Armidale (1926–1927), and Abbotsleigh Wahrounga (1928–35).<ref name=":2" />
She went on to receive a Bachelor of Science from Sydney University (1940),<ref name=":1">{{Cite web|url=https://www.womenaustralia.info/biogs/AWE0111b.htm|title=Sanger, Ruth Anne - Woman - The Australian Women's Register|last=Melbourne|first=National Foundation for Australian Women and The University of|website=www.womenaustralia.info|access-date=2019-11-23}}</ref> and earned a PhD from the University of London (1948).<ref name=":0" />
== Career == From 1940 to 1946 she worked as a haematologist for the Red Cross Blood Transfusion Service in Sydney, Australia.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/internationalwom00hain|url-access=registration|page=[https://archive.org/details/internationalwom00hain/page/277 277]|quote=ruth sanger thesis university of london blood group.|title=International Women in Science: A Biographical Dictionary to 1950|last1=Haines|first1=Catharine M. C.|last2=Stevens|first2=Helen M.|date=2001|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=978-1-57607-090-1|language=en}}</ref> In 1946, she moved to England to work with R.R. Race at the Medical Research Counsil (MRC), Blood Group Unit. While there, she received a doctorate from the University of London in 1948 on the variety of blood group systems. She returned to Australia after receiving her doctorate, but then moved permanently to the United Kingdom in 1950 and remained at the MRC until 1973.
The first edition of ''Blood Groups in Man'' was published in August 1950, based on the systematic analysis of blood groups in her PhD thesis.
In 1973, she succeeded R.R. Race as Director of the Medical Research Council's Blood Group Unit at the Lister Institute of Preventive Medicine in London. She retired in 1983.<ref>Mollison, P. L. (2004) [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/76043 "Race, Robert Russell (1907–1984)"] in ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press.</ref>
== Honours and awards ==
* Karl Landsteiner Memorial Award, USA (1957), joint with R. R. Race<ref name=":1" /> *Philip Levine Award, USA (1970), joint with R. R. Race<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://wellcomelibrary.org/item/b17541554|title=1970 Philip Levine Award of the American Society of Clinical Pathologists, jointly awarded to Robert Race and Ruth Sanger|website=Wellcome Library|access-date=2019-11-23}}</ref> *Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) (1972)<ref name="frs">{{Cite journal | last1 = Hughes-Jones | first1 = N. | author-link1 = Nevin Hughes-Jones| last2 = Tippett | first2 = P. | doi = 10.1098/rsbm.2003.0027 | title = Ruth Ann Sanger 6 June 1918 - 4 June 2001 | journal = Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society | volume = 49 | pages = 461–473 | year = 2003 | pmid = 14989272| doi-access = free }}</ref><ref>[http://www.ukwhoswho.com/view/article/oupww/whowaswho/U33856 "SANGER, Dr Ruth Ann, (Mrs R. R. Race)"] in ''Who Was Who'', A & C Black, 1920–2008, Oxford University Press.</ref><ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/2001/07/04/world/ruth-sanger-82-expert-on-blood-grouping.html Ruth Sanger, 82, Expert on Blood Grouping]. NY Times obituary, 4 July 2001</ref> *Gairdner Foundation International Award (1972, Canada), joint with R. R. Race<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://wellcomelibrary.org/item/b17541530|title=Gairdner Foundation Award jointly awarded to Robert Race and Ruth Sanger|website=Wellcome Library|access-date=2019-11-23}}</ref> *Oliver Memorial Award from the British Red Cross (1973)<ref>[http://www.eoas.info/biogs/P004510b.htm Sanger, Ruth Ann]. Encyclopedia of Australian Science</ref> *Received an honorary Doctor of Medicine (MD (Honoris Causa)) from the Helsinki University (1990)<ref name=":1" />
Her nomination for the Royal Society reads:<ref name=":3" /> {{centered pull quote|Immunogeneticist and Member of the Scientific Staff of the Medical Research Council's Blood Group Unit at the Lister Institute of Preventivie Medicine in the University of London. Distinguished for her work on human red cell antigens and for the genetic mapping of the human X chromosome.}}
== Personal life == Sanger married Race on April 6, 1956 following the death of Race's first wife.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.womenaustralia.info/biogs/AWE0111b.htm|title=Sanger, Ruth Anne - Woman - The Australian Women's Register|last=Melbourne|first=National Foundation for Australian Women and The University of|website=www.womenaustralia.info|language=en-gb|access-date=2019-11-24}}</ref>
=== Death === Ruth Sanger died in Putney in 2001. She had three step-children.
== Selected publications == * Sanger, Ruth A. (1946-10). "The Incomplete Antibody : a Quantitative Aspect". ''Nature''. '''158''' (4014): 487–487. doi:10.1038/158487a0. ISSN 1476-4687. * Race, R. R.; Mourant, A. E.; Lawler, Sylvia D.; Sanger, Ruth (1948-06-01). "THE Rh CHROMOSOME FREQUENCIES IN ENGLAND". ''Blood''. '''3''' (6): 689–695. doi:10.1182/blood.V3.6.689.689. ISSN 0006-4971. * Sanger, Ruth (1955-12). "An Association Between the P And Jay Systems of Blood Groups". ''Nature''. '''176''' (4494): 1163–1164. doi:10.1038/1761163a0. ISSN 1476-4687.
== External links == The Robert Race and Ruth Sanger papers are kept at the Wellcome Library. They have been digitised and are [http://wellcomelibrary.org/collections/digital-collections/makers-of-modern-genetics/digitised-archives/robert-race-ruth-sanger available online].
== References== {{Reflist}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Sanger, Ruth Ann}} Category:1918 births Category:2001 deaths Category:Alumni of the University of London Category:Australian haematologists Category:Australian geneticists Category:Female fellows of the Royal Society Category:Fellows of the Royal Society Category:20th-century British women scientists Category:Australian emigrants to the United Kingdom Category:Australian expatriates in England Category:Women hematologists Category:Women geneticists Category:Serologists