Lillian Mary Pickford (14 August 1902 – 14 August 2002) was a pioneering British neuroendocrinologist. She was the first woman to be elected to the Pharmacological Society and the first woman appointed to a medical professorship at the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 15 ...

Life and work

Pickford was born in

Jubbulpore Jabalpur is a city situated on the banks of Narmada River in the state of Madhya Pradesh, India. According to the 2011 census, it is the third-largest urban agglomeration in Madhya Pradesh and the country's 38th-largest urban agglomeration. J ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

on 14 August 1902 the daughter of Herbert Arthur Pickford, a tea and indigo planter, and his wife, Lillian Alice Minnie Wintle. She was sent to live with her aunt and uncle in Surrey, England at the age of five. A family friend, Sir Cooper Perry encouraged her to become a doctor but discouraged her from becoming a researcher, saying, 'Don't think of it. Women are no use at that kind of thing'. She was educated at

Wycombe Abbey , motto_translation = Go in faith , established = 1896 , type = Independent boarding school , religion = Church of England , head_label = Headmistress , head = J. Duncan , chair_label = Chair ...

school. In 1925 she graduated from Bedford College, London, having read physiology, zoology, and chemistry. After graduation the scarcity of work for women scientists meant she had difficulty finding any, but she found part-time work teaching before being accepted as a research assistant at

University College London , mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £143 million (2020) , budget = ...

. A legacy from her godmother of £120 a year meant she could study clinical medicine part-time at

University College Hospital University College Hospital (UCH) is a teaching hospital in the Fitzrovia area of the London Borough of Camden, England. The hospital, which was founded as the North London Hospital in 1834, is closely associated with University College Lond ...

and she was admitted MRCS and LRCP in 1933. In 1935 she became House Physician at Stafford General Hospital. In 1936 Pickford was awarded a Beit Memorial Fellowship and in 1939 reported on the antidiuretic effect of injecting acetylcholine into the brain. In 1939 she became lecturer in the department of physiology at the University of Edinburgh, where she remained until she retired in 1972. She graduated DSc in 1951, was promoted to Reader in 1952 and in 1966 became Professor of Physiology

Awards and honours

In 1954 she was elected a

Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh Fellowship of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (FRSE) is an award granted to individuals that the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Scotland's national academy of science and letters, judged to be "eminently distinguished in their subject". This socie ...

(FRSE). Her proposers were David Whitteridge,

John Gaddum Sir John Henry Gaddum (31 March 1900 – 30 June 1965) was an English pharmacologist who, with Ulf von Euler, co-discovered the neuropeptide Substance P in 1931. He was a founder member of the British Pharmacological Society and first editor ...

, Reginald Passmore and

Philip Eggleton Philip Eggleton FRSE (19 March 1903 – 7 October 1954) was a British biochemist, physiologist, lecturer, and (with his wife Grace Palmer Eggleton), co-discoverer of Phosphagens. Life Eggleton was born at Kingston-on-Thames on 19 March 1903 ...

. In 1966 she became Professor of Physiology at the

. She was elected a

Fellow of the Royal Society Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the judges of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural knowledge, including mathemat ...

in 1966. In addition to over 60 full papers and 13 book chapters, Pickford published a popular book ''The Central Role of Hormones'' (1969). Pickford received an honorary doctorate (DSc) from Heriot-Watt University in 1991 Professor Pickford died on her hundredth birthday in 2002. In 2021,a memorial blue plaque was erected by

The Physiological Society The Physiological Society, founded in 1876, is a learned society for physiologists in the United Kingdom. History The Physiological Society was founded in 1876 as a dining society "for mutual benefit and protection" by a group of 19 physiologis ...

, in the University of Edinburgh Old Medicine Quad in her honour, the first to a woman, recognising she was a scientist who had 'contributed to the advancement of the discipline through their discoveries, leaving a legacy beyond their lifetime.'

Publications

* ''The Central Role of Hormones'' (1969)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pickford, Mary (physiologist) 1902 births 2002 deaths British centenarians Neuroendocrinology Female Fellows of the Royal Society British physiologists Academics of the University of Edinburgh People from Jabalpur Women physiologists Fellows of the Royal Society 20th-century British women scientists Alumni of Bedford College, London Women centenarians British people in colonial India