astronomy

Nancy Lane Perham

Nancy Lane Perham is a astronomy topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Nancy Lane Perham rather than just read about it. In short: Nancy Jane Lane Perham (née Lane; 1936 – 23 November 2025) was a Canadian cell biologist and artist, and a full professor at the University of Cambridge who specialised in cell–cell interaction. Lane Perham was an advocate for women in science, chairing the Working Party on Women in SET that produced The Rising Tide report (1993), and co-founding a university accreditation scheme, the Athena Project.

Key takeaways

Nancy Lane Perham belongs to astronomy; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Nancy Lane Perham to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Nancy Lane Perham from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Nancy Jane Lane Perham (née Lane; 1936 – 23 November 2025) was a Canadian cell biologist and artist, and a full professor at the University of Cambridge who specialised in cell–cell interaction. Lane Perham was an advocate for women in science, chairing the Working Party on Women in SET that produced The Rising Tide report (1993), and co-founding a university accreditation scheme, the Athena Project.

Early life and education Nancy Jane Lane was born in 1936 to journalist Frances (née Gilbert) and Temple Lane, a civil servant, in Halifax, Nova Scotia. She was educated at Queen Elizabeth High School, where she was advised that women could not be scientists, only lab technicians. She undertook her undergraduate degree and a Masters of Science at Dalhousie University. After she graduated, she was awarded the Imperial Order of the Daughters of the Empire scholarship, and won the Governor General's Gold Medal, which allowed her to undertake her doctoral study at the University of Oxford. She completed her PhD titled A cytological study of secretory processes in gastropods, with special reference to the problem of neurosecretion at Oxford in 1963.

Academic career After post-doctoral positions at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York and Yale University, Lane Perham joined the faculty of the University of Cambridge in 1968, rising to full professor. She was described as a "brilliant microscopist". Her research focused on cell–cell interaction and cell junctions, such as gap junctions and tight junctions, especially in invertebrates. Besides studying cell structures and interactions, she also painted them. Some of her works appeared on journal covers and some were selected by David Hockney to appear in the Royal Academy of Art's 1995 Summer Exhibition. Lane Perham was an advocate for women in science. She was asked by the then Prime Minister, John Major, to chair the Working Party on Women in SET after William Waldegrave's 1993 White Paper on the British science system, Realizing Our Potential, had devoted one whole paragraph to women, but noted that they were the single most undervalued human resource in Britain. The working party produced the 1993 report The Rising Tide. Lane Perham co-founded the Athena Project, and was founder of WiSETI, a Cambridge initiative to advance women in science, technology and engineering.

Personal life and death Lane Perham was married to biochemist Richard Nelson Perham, Master of St John's College, from 1969 until his death in 2015. They had two children together. She died on 23 November 2025, at the age of 89.

Honours and awards Nancy Lane Perham was a Life Fellow of Girton College at Cambridge. She was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 1994 for services to science. She held honorary doctorates from six universities, including from the University of Surrey in 2005. She was inducted into the Nova Scotia Science Hall of Fame in 2006.

Selected works

Lane NJ (1 January 1979). "Freeze-fracture and tracer studies on the intercellular junctions of insect rectal tissues". Tissue and Cell. 11 (3): 481–506. doi:10.1016/0040-8166(79)90058-2. ISSN 0040-8166. PMID 494238. Wikidata Q42440068. Nancy Lane Perham (1 December 1963). "Microvilli on the external surfaces of gastropod tentacles and body-walls". Journal of Cell Science. S3-104 (68): 495–504. doi:10.1242/jcs.s3-104.68.495. ISSN 0021-9533. Wikidata Q123359166. Nancy Lane Perham; Yvonne Carter; Michael Ashburner (1 September 1972). "Puffs and salivary gland function: The fine structure of the larval and prepupal salivary glands ofDrosophila melanogaster". Wilhelm Roux' Archiv fur Entwicklungsmechanik der Organismen. 169 (3): 216–238. doi:10.1007/bf00582554. ISSN 0043-5546. PMID 28304626. Wikidata Q89557138. Lucia Manni; Nancy J Lane; Jean-Stéphane Joly; Fabio Gasparini; Stefano Tiozzo; Federico Caicci; Giovanna Zaniolo; Paolo Burighel (1 September 2004). "Neurogenic and non-neurogenic placodes in ascidians". Journal of Experimental Zoology. Part B: Molecular and Developmental Evolution. 302 (5): 483–504. doi:10.1002/jez.b.21013. ISSN 1552-5007. PMID 15384166. Wikidata Q42468056. N. J. Lane (1 January 1969). "Intranuclear fibrillar bodies in actinomycin D-treated oocytes". Journal of Cell Biology. 40 (1): 286–291. doi:10.1083/jcb.40.1.286. ISSN 0021-9525. PMC 2107599. PMID 5812427. Wikidata Q36190226. N. J. Lane (1 November 1967). "Spheroidal and ring nucleoli in amphibian oocytes. Patterns of uridine incorporation and fine structural features". Journal of Cell Biology. 35 (2): 421–434. doi:10.1083/jcb.35.2.421. ISSN 0021-9525. PMC 2107143. PMID 6055993. Wikidata Q36188619. Lucia Manni; Nancy J Lane; Jean-Stéphane Joly; Fabio Gasparini; Stefano Tiozzo; Federico Caicci; Giovanna Zaniolo; Paolo Burighel (1 September 2004). "Neurogenic and non-neurogenic placodes in ascidians". Journal of Experimental Zoology. Part B: Molecular and Developmental Evolution. 302 (5): 483–504. doi:10.1002/jez.b.21013. ISSN 1552-5007. PMID 15384166. Wikidata Q42468056.

References

External links Interview on Induction into the Nova Scotia Science Hall of Fame, 2006 Tribute by Girton College, 25 November 2025

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Nancy Lane Perham

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Nancy Lane Perham claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In astronomy, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Nancy Lane Perham before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Nancy Lane Perham ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Nancy Lane Perham

In research: Nancy Lane Perham appears in astronomy research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Nancy Lane Perham in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Nancy Lane Perham is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1936 births, 2025 deaths, Alumni of Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Nancy Lane Perham outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Nancy Lane Perham in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Nancy Lane Perham means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
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Frequently asked questions

What is Nancy Lane Perham in simple terms?

Why does Nancy Lane Perham matter?

Because it connects several astronomy ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Nancy Lane Perham?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Nancy Lane Perham.