Frederik B. and Betsy G. Bang papers

Frederik Bang graduated from Johns Hopkins University with an A.B. in 1935 and from the JHU School of Medicine with an M.D. in 1939. Bang’s association with Johns Hopkins University continued as he was chairman of the Department of Pathobiology from 1953-1981 and director of the JHU Centers for Medical Research Training in India and Bangladesh from 1961 to 1976.

Along with Jack Levin, also of JHU, Bang discovered and developed the Limulus Amebocyte Lysate test for bacteria. Based upon Bang’s observations that horseshoe crab blood clots in the presence of gram-negative bacteria, the LAL test is used in pharmaceuticals and medical devices that come in contact with blood. Bang was a leader in the use of marine models in medical research, especially immunology.

Betsy Garrett married Frederik Bang in 1940. They met while he was a first-year medical student and she was studying medical illustration. She was a graduate of George Washington University and Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. Along with her husband, she conducted research on marine invertebrates and immunology. She also conducted research on birds. In addition to her scientific work, Mrs. Bang is well known for her illustration and translation talents. Among her more famous works are Anatomy of a Gorilla for the American Museum of Natural History and translations of a series of Indian folk tales.

The Bangs had a long association with MBL, first arriving to conduct research in 1952. They continued coming to Woods Hole for many additional summers. They taught together in the MBL course in Comparative Pathology of Marine Invertebrates (1978-1981), and Fred Bang taught in Mariculture: Culture of Marine Invertebrates for Research Purposes (1979) and Biology of Parasitism (1980-1981). Betsy Bang continued to teach in the Comparative Pathology of Marine Invertebrates course through 1983.