Education
Upon the family’s return to Springfield, Rachel enrolled in Commercial High School, but her mother forced her to transfer to Central High School for a more traditional education.
Brown’s hard work and determination to go to college impressed Henriette F. Dexter, a friend of her grandmother, who decided to pay for Brown to attend Mount Holyoke College. Though she originally chose to major in history, she fell in love with chemistry, a strong field at Mount Holyoke, after taking a required science course. Brown earned her A.B. in chemistry and history in 1920.
After working as a laboratory assistant for some time, Brown eventually began her graduate work and earned an M.S. in organic chemistry from the University of Chicago in 1921. She then taught for three years at the Frances Shimer School near Chicago, a school and junior college for girls.
After taking some language courses and chemistry at Harvard, Brown returned to the University of Chicago for additional graduate work in organic chemistry and bacteriology. After successfully completing her research project and the required course work in 1926, she submitted her Ph.D thesis. However, due to some complications in scheduling her oral examinations and the depletion of her savings, Brown was forced to leave Chicago without her Ph.D to find a job at the Division of Labor and Research in Albany, New York.
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