Retired teacher Carol Hollingworth Collins passed away on Sunday (18), at the age of 91, at her home in Campinas. Until 2019, the professor remained active as a collaborating professor at the Chemistry Institute (IQ), a unit that she helped to structure from the moment she arrived at Unicamp, in 1974. The professor's body was cremated this Monday (19 ) with restricted access to family members.
Carol Collins was one of the few women to appear on the list of full members of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences. In 2012, she received the title of professor emeritus at Unicamp. She also received the same title from the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq). She was a pioneer in her area of activity in analytical chemistry and helped to implement and consolidate lines of research in the area of chromatography, forming one of the main Brazilian schools in the subject that allowed her to publish two books that were widely disseminated in the country: "Introduction to Chromatographic Methods" ( 1987) and "Fundamentals of Chromatography" (2006).
The teacher graduated in Chemistry from Bates College (1952) and obtained his doctorate in Organic Physical Chemistry from Iowa State University of Science and Technology (1958). He completed his postdoctoral studies at the University of Wisconsin and worked at Brookhaven National Laboratory, at Western New York Nuclear Research Center, in Louvain, Belgium, and in southwest Asia.
Recognition and awards
Professor Carol Collins' scientific and technological contributions were recognized through several awards, notably the “Marie Curie Award”, from American Association of University Women and the “Simão Mathias Medal”, from the Brazilian Chemical Society (SBQ). She also received tributes during the SBQ's 30th anniversary celebrations and was honored by the Journal of the Brazilian Chemical Society. For his outstanding performance and leadership in the creation and consolidation of the SBQ Analytical Chemistry Division, his name is recognized in the Carol Collins Medal, awarded at each National Analytical Chemistry Meeting, since the 2018 edition.
Priceless legacy
Of North American nationality, Carol Collins developed most of her academic career at Unicamp and in her research area of Analytical Chemistry she left an “invaluable legacy”, in the opinion of IQ professor Carla Beatriz Grespan Bottoli. For the teacher, Professor Carol has always been an inspiration to many researchers. “Even though she was a leader in the field, the teacher always maintained a humble attitude. She really enjoyed sharing knowledge and had a vitality like few others,” said Bottoli.
Even after her retirement in 1996, Carol Collins served graduate students and was often seen in the IQ hallways and laboratories. “She was a very loved person at the institute and her classroom door was always open to transfer knowledge”, highlights Carla Bottoli, who was her doctoral student in the late 1990s.
The IQ teacher kept in touch with and frequently visited Carol Collins, for whom she had a special affection. Last Saturday (17), Carla Bottoli visited the teacher without knowing that it would be their last meeting. “She was a library in the area. Brazil loses a great scientist”, she concludes.
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"Today Prof. Carol Collins, retired professor at IQ, passed away. One of the very few Emeritus Professors at Unicamp. Also the only woman at IQ who was a member of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences. A remarkable personality, in one of her statements she said that she came to Brazil to escape of machismo in the USA. This was in the early days of Unicamp. I lived with Carol for a few decades, with exemplary collegiality even in our disagreements. Carol was one of the most generous people I knew, she went to great lengths to help, always willing to work to make things happen. of IQ, a great institute. The memory remains and the teachings remain, of scientific rigor, dedication, collegiality and generosity.", professor at the Teresa Dib Zambon Atvars Institute of Chemistry
