Ida Pauline Rolf

Ida Pauline Rolf

Dr. Ida Pauline Rolf
Born May 19, 1896(1896-05-19)
New York
Died March 19, 1979(1979-03-19)
Citizenship United States
Nationality American
Fields Biochemistry
Alma mater Barnard College, Columbia University
Known for Structural Integration

Ida Pauline Rolf (May 19, 1896–March 19, 1979)[1] was a biochemist and the creator of Structural Integration or "Rolfing".

Contents

Early life and education

Rolf was born in New York in the Bronx on May 19, 1896.

She attended Barnard College and graduated in 1916 in the middle of World War I. At the time, young men were fighting in Europe and she was given a unique opportunity for a woman to work as a researcher at the Rockefeller Institute under the supervision of Phoebus Aaron Theodore Levene. Levene was then the head of the biochemical laboratory at the Rockefeller Institute of Medical Research.

Rolf's work at the Rockefeller Institute later became her PhD at Columbia University which she obtained in biochemistry from Columbia's College of Physicians and Surgeons in 1920. Her dissertation was titled Three Contributions to the Chemistry of the Unsaturated Phosphatides. The topic of her research was phosphatides.

Career

After graduating, Rolf continued to work with Levene at the Rockefeller Institute, first in the Department of Chemotherapy and later in the Department of Organic Chemistry, eventually attaining the rank of Associate. From 1919 to 1927 she published 16 scholarly journal papers mostly in the Journal of Biological Chemistry. Her research was mostly laboratory studies on biochemical compound: lecithin and cephalin.

In 1927, she left her academic work for reasons of health and family problems. She took leave to study mathematics and atomic physics at the Swiss Technical University in Zurich and was later to develop Structural Integration. Rolf authored a total of 16 academic papers in biochemistry from 1919 to 1927. She also published two papers in scholarly journals on structural integration. Rolf had an h-index of 10 with total number of 299 citations (February, 2007).

Publications

(from Institute for Scientific Information.

  1. Jacobs WA, Heidelberger M, Rolf IP, On certain aromatic amines and chloroacetyl derivatives JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY 41: 458-474 MAR 1919
  2. Levene PA, Rolf IP, Cephalin. VII. The glycerophosphoric acid of cephalin. JOURNAL OF BIOLOGICAL CHEMISTRY 40 (1): 1-16 NOV 1919
  3. Levene PA, Rolf IP, Structure and significance of the phosphatides - Bibliography PHYSIOLOGICAL REVIEWS 1 (3): 327-393 JAN 1921
  4. Levene PA, Rolf IP, Lechitin. III. Fatty acids of lechitin of the egg yolk. JOURNAL OF BIOLOGICAL CHEMISTRY 46 (1): 193-207 MAR 1921
  5. Levene PA, Rolf IP, Lecithin. IV. Lecithin of the brain. JOURNAL OF BIOLOGICAL CHEMISTRY 46 (2): 353-365 APR 1921
  6. Levene PA, Rolf IP, Unsaturated fatty acids of brain lecithins. JOURNAL OF BIOLOGICAL CHEMISTRY 54 (1): 99-100 SEP 1922
  7. Levene PA, Rolf IP, Unsaturated fatty acids of brain cephalins. JOURNAL OF BIOLOGICAL CHEMISTRY 54 (1): 91-98 SEP 1922
  8. Levene PA, Rolf IP, Lysolecithins and lysocephalins. JOURNAL OF BIOLOGICAL CHEMISTRY 55 (4): 743-749 APR 1923
  9. Levene PA, Rolf IP, Simms HS Lysolecithins and lysocephalins. II. Isolation and properties of lysolecithins and lysocephalins. JOURNAL OF BIOLOGICAL CHEMISTRY 58 (3): 859-871 JAN 1924
  10. Levene PA, Rolf IP, Synthetic lecithins. JOURNAL OF BIOLOGICAL CHEMISTRY 60 (3): 677-683 JUL 1924
  11. Levene PA, Rolf IP, Plant phosphatides. I. Lecithin and cephalin of the soy bean. JOURNAL OF BIOLOGICAL CHEMISTRY 62 (3): 759-766 JAN 1925
  12. Levene PA, Rolf IP, Bromolecithins. I. Fractionation of brominated soy bean lecithins. JOURNAL OF BIOLOGICAL CHEMISTRY 65 (2): 545-549 SEP 1925
  13. Levene PA, Rolf IP, Bromolecithins. II. Bromolecithins of the liver and egg yolk. JOURNAL OF BIOLOGICAL CHEMISTRY 67 (3): 659-666 MAR 1926
  14. Levene PA, Rolf IP, Plant phosphatides. II. Lecithin, cephalin, and so called cuorin of the soy bean. JOURNAL OF BIOLOGICAL CHEMISTRY 68 (2): 0285-0293 MAY 1926
  15. Levene PA, Rolf IP, Note on the preparation of cephalin. JOURNAL OF BIOLOGICAL CHEMISTRY 74 (3): 713-714 SEP 1927
  16. Levene PA, Rolf IP, The preparation and purification of lecithin. JOURNAL OF BIOLOGICAL CHEMISTRY 72 (2): 587-590 APR 1927
  17. Rolf IP, VERTICAL - Experiential Side to Human Potential. JOURNAL OF HUMANISTIC PSYCHOLOGY 18 (2): 37-39 1978
  18. Rolf IP, Structural Integration - Contribution to understanding of stress. CONFINIA PSYCHIATRICA 16 (2): 69-79 1973
  19. Rolf IP, 1979. Rolfing: Reestablishing the Natural Alignment and Structural Integration of the Human Body for Vitality and Well-Being. Healing Arts Press. (Book)

Rolfing

Dr. Rolf began developing her system in the 1920s to help the chronically disabled who had been unable to find help elsewhere. Her main goal was of organizing the human bodily structure in relation to gravity. This method was originally called Postural Release and later Structural Integration, also commonly known as Rolfing.

In 1971, Dr. Rolf founded The Guild for Structural Integration, which later changed its name to The Rolf Institute of Structural Integration.[2] Her second son Richard, helped to continue developing and refining rolfing, as well as assisting in studies of the healing effects of structural integration on the handicapped. Ida and Richard also taught rolfing classes at locations around the United States. Based for many years in New York city, Ida and Richard worked together to advance the practice and to make the general public aware of the practice and benefits of rolfing.

Personal life

Rolf was married to Walter Frederick Demmerle. They had had two sons, Alan M., and Richard R. Richard was involved in his mother's rolfing project and continued her work.

External links

References

  1. ^ Biography at Web site on Rolfing
  2. ^ Stirling, Isabel. Zen Pioneer: The Life & Works of Ruth Fuller Sasaki (2006) Shoemaker & Hoard. ISBN 978-1-59376-110-3 pg. 8

Feitis, Rosemary. 1985. Rolfing and Physical Reality. Healing Arts Press