Raper worked alongside her husband, Red Raper, on the mating-type mutants of Schizophyllum.[6] Her husband was chair of the biology department at Harvard University when he died in 1974.[8][9] After this, Cardy Raper began her formal career in science, working at Harvard University as a researcher and lecturer from 1974.[10] She worked in the Netherlands at the
University of Hagen with Jos Wessels.[6] In 1978 she joined
Wellesley College as an assistant professor.[10] After spending the summer of 1982 working with Bob Ullrich at the
University of Vermont, she decided to move there.[11] In 1983 she set up her own independent research laboratory the University of Vermont.[10][12] She remained there as an
emeritus professor after her retirement in 1994. Raper identified that Schizophyllum commune had more than 23,000 mating types.[6] In 2008 there was a celebration of her contributions to science.[13] In 2012 she was elected as a Fellow of the
American Association for the Advancement of Science.[14][15]
In 2017 she spoke at the
Burlington Writers Workshop.[16] Her son, Jonathan Raper, is a professor of cell biology at the
University of Pennsylvania.[17] She and Red Raper also had a daughter, Linda.[5] Raper died after a brief illness at her summer home in
Ferrisburgh, Vermont, on September 5, 2019, at the age of 94.[18]
Books
A Woman of Science: An Extraordinary Journey of Love, Discovery, and the Sex Life of Mushrooms. 2013.[5]
An American Harvest: How One Family Moved From Dirt-Poor Farming To A Better Life In The Early 1900s. 2016.[19]
^
abcCardy., Raper (2013). A woman of science : an extraordinary journey of love, discovery, and the sex life of mushrooms. [Hobart, New York].
ISBN9781578264421.
OCLC841037522.{{
cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (
link)
^"Carlene Allen Raper". burlingtonfreepress.com. The Burlington Free Press. 22 September 2019. Retrieved 30 July 2024.
^Cardy., Raper (2016-04-22). American harvest : how one family moved from dirt -poor farming to a better life in the early 1900s. Brattleboro, Vermont.
ISBN978-0996267625.
OCLC928488854.{{
cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (
link)