[1] Jacobs was born in Washington, D.C., to Joseph and Helen Reines, respectively a concert bassoonist and a secretary.

[4] Jacobs received an honorary Doctor of Science degree from George Washington University in 2003.

[4] Jacobs began her career in science communications in 1969, working as a reporter for Chemical and Engineering News (C&EN).

[10] This led to her work dissecting the challenges that women chemists face, which was the first major story of this sort in C&EN.

[10][11] Jacobs also initiated the annual release of the "scorecard," where C&EN tracks how the academia and the industry are doing in hiring women chemists.