Obituary

Miriam Mark Salpeter, the professor of neurobiology and behavior whose research in nerve cell synapses helped explain how chemical signals pass through the nervous system, died Oct. 24 of cancer at Cayuga Medical Center. She was 71.

A member of the Cornell faculty since 1967 and chair of the Section of Neurobiology and Behavior from 1982 to 1988, Salpeter was the co-inventor of one of the key enabling technologies in neuroscience. Together with Edwin Salpeter, her husband, the J.G. White Distinguished Professor of Physical Science Emeritus, and Luis Bachmann, a postdoctoral researcher at Cornell, she developed quantitative electron microscopic autoradiography. The technique for detecting radiologic decay in tagged molecules brought unprecedented accuracy to determining the number and location of signaling proteins in cells -- and in particular, to molecules at the neuromuscular synapse or junction.

Known to friends and family as Mika, Miriam Mark was born in Riga, Latvia, in 1929. She was 9 when her family fled to Canada, where they lived for several years before moving to New York City in 1945. She graduated summa cum laude from Hunter College in 1950 with a degree in psychology (and was later elected to the Hunter College Hall of Fame), earned a Ph.D. in psychobiology and neuroanatomy from Cornell in 1953 and conducted postdoctoral research in neuroanatomy and cell biology at Case Western Reserve and Cornell universities from 1957 to 1961. She was a research associate in applied physics at Cornell from 1961 to 1967, before receiving a faculty appointment in neurobiology and behavior and in applied and engineering physics. She was appointed a full professor in those fields in 1973 and served as a role model for many female scientists.

Salpeter is survived by her husband; daughters Judy Salpeter, Berkeley, Calif., and Shelley Salpeter, M.D., Woodside, Calif.; a sister, Naomi Lasher, Briarcliff Manor, N.Y.; and four grandchildren.

A memorial service is set for Sunday, Nov. 12, at 10:30 a.m. in Barnes Hall. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the Salpeter/Mark Fund for Yiddish Culture, Cornell Hillel, G-34 Anabel Taylor Hall, Ithaca, N.Y. 14853.