
Maude Menten, one of the first women doctors in Canada and later a
pathologist at the University of Chicago, worked with Leonor Michaelis
in experimental support for the kinetic model of enzyme kinetics that we
know as the Michaelis-Menten equation (1913). The equation itself was
formulated earlier by Victor Henri (1903) based on poorly controlled
experiments on the action of invertase. The discovery of pH (1909) made
it possible for Michaelis and Menten to buffer their reactions, carrying
them out under more controlled conditions than had been previously done by
Henri and others.
For more on the life and work of this early woman biochemist see
the
Women in Science site a the University of Toronto.