Combining an interest in electronics with his specialties of chemistry and biology, Britton Chance developed new equipment and techniques for research in biochemistry and biophysics, including invention of the double-beam spectrophotometer and the reflectance fluorometer and application of computer methods to the study of enzyme action and metabolic control. Furthermore, the experimental results he has obtained using his own innovative procedures are of major importance in such areas as determining the actions of narcotics and poisons on living cells.

Born in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, on July 24, 1913, Chance was the son of Edwin M. Chance, a chemist who was honored for research in mine gases and who worked with the Chemical Warfare Service during World War I. His mother was Eleanor Kent Chance. Both parents were from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and the family returned there after Britton's birth, with the senior Chance becoming an engineer. Summers were spent at Barnegat Bay...