Nellie Ivy Fisher (1907–1995) was a London-born industrial chemist and researcher who specialized in photographic chemistry and became known for her work in Australia as the first woman to lead a division of

Kodak The Eastman Kodak Company (referred to simply as Kodak ) is an American public company that produces various products related to its historic basis in analogue photography. The company is headquartered in Rochester, New York, and is incorpor ...

Life

Nellie Ivy Fisher was born on 15 October 1907 in London, one of six children born to master jeweller Francis Frederick Fisher and his wife, Mary Jane Davis. Educated at Paddington and Maida Vale High School, Nellie studied chemistry at the Imperial College of Science and Technology,

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree ...

, earning her BSc in 1929. While there, she served as president of the Imperial College Women's Association (1928–1929). She undertook a further year of postgraduate research with Harry Lister Riley, for which she received the Diploma of Imperial College." In 1930, Fisher took a position with a division of Ilford Research Laboratories where she was a research assistant to Dr.

Frances Mary Hamer Frances Mary Hamer (1894–1980) was a British chemist who specialized in the sensitization compounds used for photographic processing for which she held many patents. She was very active in the Allied efforts to enhance aerial photography during ...

, noted chemist specializing in sensitizing dyes used for photographic processing. When Hamer took a new position at

Ltd in 1934, Fisher also moved to that company in

Harrow Harrow may refer to: Places * Harrow, Victoria, Australia * Harrow, Ontario, Canada * The Harrow, County Wexford, a village in Ireland * London Borough of Harrow, England ** Harrow, London, a town in London ** Harrow (UK Parliament constituency) ...

, England. There Fisher and Hamer researched the preparation and properties of

cyanine dyes Cyanines, also referred to as tetramethylindo(di)-carbocyanines are a synthetic dye family belonging to the polymethine group. Although the name derives etymologically from terms for shades of blue, the cyanine family covers the electromagnetic s ...

, which provide spectral sensitivity to photographs and are critical to colour photography. The partnership was very productive and their work was the subject of Fisher's doctoral thesis at the

(PhD, 1938) entitled ''New Methods of Preparation and Some New Dyes of the Cyanine Series''.

Australia

In late 1939 Fisher accepted the invitation of

C. E. Kenneth Mees Charles Edward Kenneth Mees FRS (26 May 1882 – 15 August 1960) was a British scientist and photographic researcher. Early life and education Mees was born in Wellingborough, England, the son of a Wesleyan minister. He attended the Univ ...

(then head of research with Eastman Kodak at

Rochester, New York Rochester () is a City (New York), city in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, the county seat, seat of Monroe County, New York, Monroe County, and the fourth-most populous in the state after New York City, Buffalo, New York, Buffalo, ...

), to move to Australia where she later became the founder and director of Kodak Emulsion Labs. Following a "perilous wartime voyage" from England, she finally started work at the

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

facility in February 1940. At Kodak Australasia, she provided expertise in preparing emergency quantities of spectral sensitisers, supplies of which were expected to be restricted during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. Specifically, she started working "on many manufacturing problems using her knowledge of dyes as filters". At the Abbotsford plant of Kodak (Australasia) Pty Ltd, she was the first woman to be named head of a division. She worked with the head of research, Neil ‘Blue’ Lewis, synthesising dyes and preparing ‘gelatine colour correction Wratten-type filters and safelight screens’. According to Rae, her contributions were significant.

Fisher gave a lecture illustrated with lantern slides to a meeting of the (Royal) Australian Chemical Institute in August 1944, on the subject ''Colour in Relation to the Structure of Organic Compounds with Special Reference to the Cyanine Dyes''. A newspaper notice of the meeting mentioned that the dyes were useful as sensitisers in aerial photography, a rare, if oblique, reference to wartime scientific work by Kodak. In 1953,
eil Eil may refer to: Places * Eil (crater), on Mars * Eil, Cologne, a quarter of Cologne, Germany * Eil, Somalia * Eil District, Somalia * Loch Eil, a lake in Scotland Other uses * Eastern Independent League, an American high school sports confe ...
Lewis addressed the institute on the science of colour photography, emphasising the contributions of Kodak and the use of modern methods of chemical analysis. Nellie Fisher had led the introduction of these techniques to Kodak's Australian operations.

In 1948, Kodak established a separate emulsion (sensitising) laboratory under Fisher's leadership where she worked until her retirement. While there she "trained dozens of chemists, many of whom went on to senior roles in the company". In 1961, when the Kodak factory was moved to a larger site at Coburg outside of Melbourne, she took charge of building the new labs there. She retired from Kodak in 1962, but kept in contact with researchers there for many years.

Personal life

Known as Jackie Fisher among her friends, she and her life partner, New Zealand-born medical practitioner, William Wishart, were both enthusiastic bushwalkers and enjoyed their passion even while on holiday overseas. After Wishart's death in 1977, Fisher joined the Melbourne Walking Club and remained an active member until her failing health kept her close to home in the early 1990s. She died in Box Hill,

on 10 August 1995 and was cremated.

Selected publications

After Fisher followed Hamer to Kodak in 1934, the two researchers "authored seven publications together and several patents". * Fisher, Nellie I., and Frances M. Hamer. "A comparison of the absorption spectra of some typical symmetrical cyanine dyes." ''Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Series A-Mathematical and Physical Sciences'' 154.883 (1936): 703-723. * Fisher, Nellie Ivy, and Frances Mary Hamer. "CCCXXXI.—A general method for the preparation of thiocyanine dyes. Some simple thiocarbocyanines." ''Journal of the Chemical Society (Resumed)'' (1930): 2502-2510. * Riley, Harry Lister, and Nellie Ivy Fisher. "CCLXII.—The electrolytic dissociation of some metal malonates." ''Journal of the Chemical Society (Resumed)'' (1929): 2006-2010.

Selected patents

Fisher filed for several patents while she was working for Kodak. * Nellie Ivy Fisher. Improvements in the manufacture of dyestuffs and intermediates therefor. US GB GB413300A; Priority 1933-01-09 • Filed 1933-01-09 • Published 1934-07-09 * Nellie Ivy Fisher. Improvements in the manufacture of cyanine and related dyes. US GB GB455710A; Priority 1935-03-21 • Filed 1935-03-21 • Published 1936-10-21 *Frances Mary Hamer and Nellie Ivy Fisher - Cyanine dyes and a process for the preparation, 2,108,484 1, assignment to Eastman Kodak Company, Jersey City.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fisher, Nellie Ivy 1907 births 1995 deaths British emigrants to Australia 20th-century British chemists 20th-century British women scientists British chemists British women chemists Alumni of the University of London Kodak people