Margaret Ruth Dix (1902 – 9 December 1991) was a British neuro-otologist. With Charles Skinner Hallpike, she published important research on

vertigo Vertigo is a condition where a person has the sensation of movement or of surrounding objects moving when they are not. Often it feels like a spinning or swaying movement. This may be associated with nausea, vomiting, sweating, or difficulties w ...

and described the

Dix–Hallpike test The Dix–Hallpike test — or Nylén–Bárány test — is a diagnostic maneuver from the group of rotation tests used to identify benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV). Procedure When performing the Dix–Hallpike test, patients are lowe ...

Biography

Dix was born in 1902 and attended

Sherborne School for Girls Sherborne Girls, formally known as Sherborne School for Girls, is an independent day and boarding school for girls, located in Sherborne, North Dorset, England. There were 485 pupils attending in 2019–2020, with over 90 per cent of them livin ...

. She studied medicine at the Royal Free Hospital School of Medicine, earning her MBBS in 1937. She then began training as a surgeon, but in 1940 she was injured in an air-raid during

the Blitz The Blitz was a German bombing campaign against the United Kingdom in 1940 and 1941, during the Second World War. The term was first used by the British press and originated from the term , the German word meaning 'lightning war'. The Germa ...

that left her with a facial disfigurement and pieces of glass in her eyes, forcing her to give up her surgical career. Dix joined the

National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery The National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery (informally the National Hospital or Queen Square) is a neurological hospital in Queen Square, London. It is part of the University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. It was the ...

as a Medical Research Council researcher in 1945, studying deafness in ex-servicemen. She was hired by Charles Skinner Hallpike, who encouraged her to pursue a career in neuro-otology, the study of the inner ear. Dix and Hallpike published a landmark series in 1952 in the ''

Proceedings of the Royal Society of Medicine The ''Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine'' is a peer-reviewed medical journal. It is the flagship journal of the Royal Society of Medicine with full editorial independence. Its continuous publication history dates back to 1809. Since July 20 ...

'' and the '' Annals of Otology, Rhinology, and Laryngology''; it described the main causes of

and how to differentiate between them. They also described the eponymous

, which is used to diagnose

benign paroxysmal positional vertigo Benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV) is a disorder arising from a problem in the inner ear. Symptoms are repeated, brief periods of vertigo with movement, characterized by a spinning sensation upon changes in the position of the head. * T ...

. Dix became a

Doctor of Medicine Doctor of Medicine (abbreviated M.D., from the Latin ''Medicinae Doctor'') is a medical degree, the meaning of which varies between different jurisdictions. In the United States, and some other countries, the M.D. denotes a professional degree. T ...

in 1957, and worked at the National Hospital until her retirement in 1976. She authored over 100 publications in the field of neuro-otology and won the

Royal Society of Medicine The Royal Society of Medicine (RSM) is a medical society in the United Kingdom, headquartered in London. History The Society was established in 1805 as Medical and Chirurgical Society of London, meeting in two rooms in barristers’ chamber ...

's Norman Gamble Research Prize in 1980. She died on 9 December 1991, aged 89.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dix, Margaret 1902 births 1991 deaths British neurologists People educated at Sherborne Girls Women neurologists