Eeva Therman

{{Short description|Finnish geneticist (1916–2004)}}

{{Infobox scientist

| image = Eeva_Therman-Patau,_from_Helsingin_Sanomat_obituary.png

| image_upright = 0.5

| caption = Portrait of Eeva Therman as a young woman from her obituary in Helsingin Sanomat, written by her friend and colleague Petter Portin.

| name = Eeva Therman-Patau

| birth_name = Eeva Maria Therman

| birth_date = August 4, 1916{{cite news |title=Eeva Therman-Patau |url=https://www.hs.fi/muistot/art-2000002625554.html |newspaper=Helsingin Sanomat |date=June 12, 2004 |place=Helsinki |author=Portin, Petter |access-date=March 15, 2021 |archive-date=August 24, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240824095810/https://www.hs.fi/muistot/art-2000002625554.html |url-status=live }}

| birth_place = Helsinki, Finland

| death_date = {{death date and age|2004|6|12|1916|8|16}}

| death_place = Helsinki, Finland

| resting_place = Kulosaari Cemetery

| nationality = Finland, United States

| field = Biology

| work_institution = University of Wisconsin–Madison

| alma_mater = University of Helsinki

| known_for = Genetics of trisomy 13 and trisomy 18

| spouse = Heikki Suomalainen (1943–49)
Klaus Patau (1961–75)

| children = two

}}

Eeva Maria Therman-Patau (1916–2004) was a Finnish-born American geneticist. She worked to characterize the effects and cytogenetics of trisomy 13 and trisomy 18, two rare and usually fatal genetic disorders caused by an extra copy of chromosome 13 and 18, respectively.{{cite journal |title=Multiple congenital anomaly caused by an extra autosome |last1=Patau |first1=Klaus |last2=Smith |first2=David W. |last3=Therman |first3=Eeva |last4=Inhorn |first4=Stanley L. |last5=Wagner |first5=Hans P. |journal=The Lancet |doi=10.1016/S0140-6736(60)90676-0 |volume=275 |issue=7128 |date=April 9, 1960|pages=790–793 |pmid=14430807 }}{{cite journal |title=A new autosomal trisomy syndrome: multiple congenital anomalies caused by an extra chromosome |last2=Patau |first2=Klaus |last1=Smith |first1=David W. |last3=Therman |first3=Eeva |last4=Inhorn |first4=Stanley L. |journal=The Journal of Pediatrics |doi=10.1016/S0022-3476(60)80241-7 |volume=57 |issue=3 |date=September 1, 1960|pages=338–345 |pmid=13831938 }}

Her works include Human Chromosomes: Structure, Behavior, Effects, a textbook on cytogenetics which is in its 4th edition.{{cite book |first=Eeva |last=Therman |title=Human Chromosomes: Structure, Behavior, Effects |date=1980 |location=New York |publisher=Springer-Verlag New York |doi=10.1007/978-1-4684-0107-3|isbn=978-1-4684-0109-7 |s2cid=36686283 }} Her research specialties included X-inactivation in mammals and chromosomal abnormalities in cancer.

She received her PhD from the University of Helsinki in 1947.{{cite web |title=Eeva Therman • LITFL • Medical Eponym Library |website=Life in the Fastlane |access-date=March 13, 2021 |date=Nov 3, 2020 |first1=Rose |last1=Laud |first2=Mike |last2=Cadogan |url=https://litfl.com/eeva-therman/ |archive-date=March 13, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210313165325/https://litfl.com/eeva-therman/ |url-status=live }} She emigrated to the United States in 1958, and shortly thereafter began to work as a research assistant in Klaus Patau's laboratory in the Department of Genetics at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. Three years later, she married Patau. Due to university hiring rules, she was unable to become faculty until Patau's death in 1975.{{cite web |title=History – Genetics – UW-Madison |publisher=University of Wisconsin–Madison |url=https://genetics.wisc.edu/history/#eeva-therman-1916-2004 |access-date=March 13, 2021}} She retired in 1986, and returned to Finland in 2002.{{cite web |url=https://kb.wisc.edu/images/group222/shared/2005-04-04FacultySenate/1845(mem_res).pdf |title=Memorial Resolution of the Faculty of the University of Wisconsin–Madison on the Death of Professor Emerita Eeva Therman Patau |type=Faculty document |publisher=University of Wisconsin–Madison |date=April 4, 2005 |access-date=March 13, 2021 |archive-date=March 13, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210313171931/https://kb.wisc.edu/images/group222/shared/2005-04-04FacultySenate/1845%28mem_res%29.pdf |url-status=live }}