| Administrative History | Lillian Mary Pickford (1902 - 2002), physiologist, pioneer of neuro - endocrinology first woman to be elected to the Pharmacological Society [1928] and first woman to be appointed to a professorship in the faculty of medicine at Edinburgh University.
She was born in India, went to Wycombe Abbey school, Buckinghamshire, and completed a degree in physiology at Bedford College in 1925.
'At first, she had difficulty finding work, but eventually overcame the prevailing view that women had no part to play in research; she became part - time research assistant to Professor EB Verney at University College London and finished her MSc in 1926. She did her medical training at University College Hospital, after which she worked at Stafford General Infirmary, and later as locum general practitioner. Recognising the lack of understanding of basic physiological processes, she opted for a career in research and was awarded a Beit Memorial Fellowship in 1936 to work in Verney's department at Cambridge. He provided her with an environment in which she could develop her skills, and her systematic quantitative approach proved to be productive and exciting'.
'Mary made many contributions to physiology, one of the most important being her work on antidiuretic substances. In her medical practice she had become aware that trauma could lead to kidney failure. In Antidiuretic Substances (1952), she discussed factors that reduced urine flow, the most important physiological compound being antidiuretic hormone (ADH). She established the important quantitative relationship between dehydration and urine flow, and showed that the increase in urine flow after drinking water was due to an inhibition of ADH release from the pituitary gland'.
'Her popular science paperback, The Central Role Of Hormones (1969), made an enormous impact during the rest of the 20th century'.
'In 1939, she became lecturer in physiology at Edinburgh University, and during the second world war she often spent university vacations in London, where she helped to patrol communal air-raid shelters and give medical help.
After the war, she was promoted to reader in 1952, having graduated DSc (London) the previous year. In 1966, she was awarded a personal chair and was also elected Fellow of the Royal Society. In 1972, she retired to live in the family home in Derbyshire, and for a time taught endocrinology at Nottingham, but increasingly concentrated on her painting; in 1982, the large size of the house and garden caused her to move back to Edinburgh'.
'She was awarded an honorary doctorate by Heriot - Watt University, fellowships of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh and the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh and honorary membership of the Physiological Society'.
Pickford died on her 100th birthday.
Cited from the UK Resource Centre for Women in Science, Engineering and Technology web page, 'Mary Pickford [1902 - 2002] - John Morrison, Tuesday August 27, 2002, The Guardian', http://extra.shu.ac.uk/nrc/section_3/pioneers/pickford.html (2005). |
| Description | Letter, dated 15 May 1968, from Pickford to Kosterlitz, asking him to give some advice on 'sucrose gap technique' to Dr. J.F.B. Morrison. Includes a reply letter, dated 16 May 1968.
Handwritten letter, dated 15 October 1969, from Pickford to Kosterlitz, asking him whether he knows of a student who would be interested in working with her and who already has experience of the sucrose gap method. Includes a reply letter, dated 22 October 1969, in which Kosterlitz writes that he does not know of anyone suitable for Pickford.
Handwritten letter, dated 22 January 1973, from Pickford to Kosterlitz, asking whether there is any room in Kosterlitz's department for Dr. Gerald Cohen. Includes a reply letter, dated 24 January 1973, saying that Kosterlitz had appointed a biochemical pharmacologist in October 1970. Kosterlitz mentions that his department will expand from 110 to 150 students in 1974. Kosterlitz writes that he will retire in September 1973 and suggests that Cohen try for a job in the Department of Therapeutics and Clinical Pharmacology, Aberdeen. Kosterlitz writes, 'We shall stay on in Aberdeen where I shall probably start a Research Unit on narcotic analgesic drugs. I have been asked to continue with my present research work but negotiations are not yet complete'. Letter mentions Pickford's move to Derbyshire. |