Dorothea Waley Singer

[1] At the time of her marriage Dorothea already was an aspiring expert on scientific manuscripts of the middle ages, and devoted herself to numerous philanthropic activities.

Her first papers were co-authored with her husband, starting with a publication on the development of contagium vivum,[3] a concept relating to the theory of microorganisms as the cause of infectious diseases.

[7] During Charles' absence on war service she also began to dedicate herself to the monumental project of cataloguing all medical and scientific manuscripts in Great Britain and Northern Ireland from the Middle Ages to the early modern era.

[8][10] Dorothea Singer's card index on the project survives to this day in the Department of Manuscripts at the British Library, where it fills over 100 boxes.

Yet the escalating political crisis in central Europe increasingly absorbed the socially committed Singers, leaving little time for historical research.

While Charles became active in the mission of the Society for the Protection of Science and Learning, founded in 1933 in reaction to antisemitic discrimination in Nazi Germany, Dorothea welcomed refugees and arranged for their placement.

In December 1946 her essay on alchemical texts under Plato's alleged authorship appeared in the journal Ambix,[15] followed by a long treatise (in three parts) on the Scottish physician Sir John Pringle in 1949 and 1950.

With a number of eminent scientists of her time she was in close contact, among them Julian Sorell Huxley as well as the biochemist and sinologist Joseph Needham, the greatest authority on Chinese history of science of his era.