[1] Born in Camden, Arkansas, Betty Jo Teeter was the youngest daughter of a Methodist preacher and a schoolteacher.
[2] Her works include The Foundations of Newton's Alchemy, or the Hunting of the Greene Lyon,[3] Alchemical Death and Resurrection (based upon her February 1988 lecture at the Smithsonian Institution),[4] and The Janus Faces of Genius: The Role of Alchemy in Newton's Thought.
In 1953, Betty Jo Teeter married Dan Byron Dobbs (1932–2024), who became a lawyer and professor of law.
[8] Upon her death, she was survived by three daughters, a son, and two grandchildren, as well as her companion Karen Halttunen.
[2][9] In 1997, she was awarded posthumously with the George Sarton Medal of the History of Science Society.