| Authorised form of name | Robertson; Muriel (1883 - 1973); protozoologist and bacteriologist |
| Dates | 1883 - 1973 |
| Nationality | British |
| Place of birth | Glasgow, Scotland |
| Date of birth | 08 April 1883 |
| Place of death | Altnagelvin Hospital, Londonderry, Northern Ireland |
| Date of death | 14/06/1973 |
| Occupation | protozoologist and bacteriologist |
| Research field | Microbiology |
| Bacteriology |
| Protozoology |
| Activity | Education:
At home; Glasgow University. MA (1905), DSc (1922)
Career:
Research at Glasgow University; Carnegie Fellow (1907-1910); travelled to Ceylon to study blood parasites of reptiles (1907); returned to Glasgow (1908); research assistant to E A Minchin (FRS 1911) at the Lister Institute of Preventitive Medicine, London (1909-1911), and joined the staff of the Institute (1910); Protozoologist to the Protectorate of Uganda in the Royal Society laboratory, Mpumu (1911-1914); returned to the Lister Institute when war broke out (1914); studied the bacterial causes of gangrene, which she returned to when evacuated to Cambridge (1939); Head, Department of Protozoology, Lister Institute (1944); her main research was in Trichomonas; had one eye removed due to glaucoma (1950s); worked part-time in the laboratory of the Agricultural Research Council Institute of Animal Physiology, Babraham, near Cambridge; went to live with her sister in Limvady and spent the last 18 months of her life in hospital there.
Memberships:
Royal Society of Tropical Medicine
Institute of Biology
Pathological Society
Society for Experimental Biology
Medical Research Club
Society of General Microbiology (founding member and serving on its council 1945-1948) |
| Membership category | Fellow |
| Date of election | 20/03/1947 |
| Age at election | 64 |
| Proposer | William Ewart Gye |
| James Walter McLeod |
| Edwin Hindle |
| Alan Nigel Drury |
| Sydney Price James |
| Alexander Fleming |
| Samuel Phillips Bedson |
| Charles Morley Wenyon |
| Charles James Martin |
| John Graham Kerr |
| Relationships | Parents: Robert Andrew Robertson (1842–1899), engineer, and Elizabeth Ritter (b. 1851), originally from Limavady, co. Londonderry, Northern Ireland. |
| Published works | RCN R76855
RCN R76884
RCN R76890
RCN R76891
RCN R76881
RCN R76894
RCN R76883
RCN R76880
RCN R76900
RCN R76893
RCN R76887
RCN R76859
RCN R76861
RCN R76882
RCN R76857
RCN 18705
RCN R76866
RCN R76876
RCN R76877
RCN 18704
RCN R76864
RCN 18718
RCN R76867
RCN R76868
RCN 18719
RCN R76871
RCN R76865
RCN 18717
RCN R76870
RCN R76874
RCN R76869
RCN 18708
RCN R76896
RCN R76895
RCN R76856
RCN R76854
RCN R76872
RCN 8985
RCN R76875
RCN R76879
RCN R76901
RCN R76897
RCN R76898
RCN R76889
RCN R76858
RCN R76860
RCN R76878
RCN R76899
RCN R76862
RCN R76886
RCN R76863
RCN 18715
RCN R76873
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| General context | Distinguished for her researches in Protozoology and Immunology.
Made key discoveries of the life cycle of trypanosomes (notably Trypanosoma gambiense, which causes African trypanosomiasis or sleeping sickness), flagellates, and those on the antigenic properties of the group of anaerobic bacteria which cause gas-gangrene.
Contributed towards the understanding, prevention, and cure of disease. |
| Royal Society Obituary or Memoir | Click to view (may be contained within a meeting notice, presidential address or list of death notices) |
| Related images | Discover a selection of related images in our picture library |
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| Sources | Obituaries:
Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society 1974 vol 20 pp 317-347, plate, by Ann Bishop and Sir Ashley Miles
References:
Joan Mason, 'The Women Fellows' Jubilee' in NR 1995 vol 49 pp 125-140 |
| Royal Society code | NA8015 |
| Reference number | Title | Date |
| EC/1947/22 | Robertson, Muriel: certificate of election to the Royal Society | |
| IM/GA/WS/2673/B | Robertson, Muriel | 1946 |
| CMB/51/16 | Programme of proposed research, submitted by Muriel Robertson to the Royal Society Tropical Diseases Committee | February 1911 |
| CMB/51/49 | Copy, telegram from the Officer Administering the Government of Uganda, to the Secretary of State for the Colonies | 30 October 1912 |
| CMB/51/69 | Copy, letter from Muriel Robertson, Kampala, Uganda, to [the Secretary of the Royal Society] | 22 September 1913 |
| CMB/51/89 | Copy, letter from Muriel Robertson, from the Lister Institute of Preventive Medicine, to Sir David Bruce, Chair of the Tropical Diseases Committee | 17 March 1919 |
| CMB/51/43 | Programme of proposed work, 1912-1913, prepared for the Tropical Diseases Committee by Miss Muriel Robertson | September 1912 |
| CMB/51/68 | Copy, letter from Muriel Robertson, the camp, Norther Province Uganda, to [the Secretary of the Royal Society] | 13 August 1913 |
| RR/18/177 | Referee's report by David Bruce, on a paper 'Transmission of flagellates living in the blood of certain freshwater fishes' by Muriel Robertson | 30 January 1911 |
| NLB/43/514 | Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Miss [Muriel] Robertson | 1 February 1911 |
| NLB/46/69 | Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Miss Muriel Robertson | 6 June 1912 |
| NLB/50/461 | Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Miss Muriel Robertson, Lister Institute | 13 July 1914 |
| RR/19/105 | Referee's report by Edward Alfred Minchin, on a paper 'Notes on the life-history of Trypanosoma gambiense, etc' by Muriel Robertson | [October 1912] |
| RR/19/104 | Referee's report by William Boog Leishman, on a paper 'Notes on the life-history of Trypanosoma gambiense, with a brief reference to the cycles of Trypanosoma nanum and Trypanosoma pecorum in Glossina palpalis' by Muriel Robertson | [November 1912] |
| NLB/57/157 | Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society; to Sir David Bruce, FRS, KCB, Surgeon General | 31 July 1919 |
| RR/19/102 | Referee's report by Edward Alfred Minchin, on a paper 'Notes on certain aspects of the development of Trypanosoma gambiense in Glossina palpalis' by Muriel Robertson | [March 1912] |
| CMB/51/42 | Copy, letter from Miss Muriel Robertson, Mpumu, Uganda, to [the Secretaries of the Royal Society] | 2 September 1912 |
| MC/27/289 | Letter from Muriel Robertson, Mpumi, Uganda, to Mr [Robert] Harrison, [Royal Society] | 11 March 1912 |
| CMB/51/70 | Copy, letter from Muriel Robertson, Kampala, Uganda, to [the Secretary of the Royal Society] | 27 September 1913 |
| IM/GA/WS/2673/C | Robertson, Muriel | 1946 |
| NLB/57 | New Letter Book volume 57, copy letters sent from Royal Society administration | 27 June 1919-27 February 1920 |
| NLB/46/687 | Copy letter from John Rose Bradford, to The Under Secretary of State, the Colonial Office | 16 October 1912 |
| RR/18/176 | Referee's report by Sidney Frederic Harmer, on a paper 'Transmission of flagellates living in the blood of certain freshwater fishes' by Muriel Robertson | 20 January 1911 |
| RR/19/103 | Referee's report by Edward Alfred Minchin, on a paper 'Notes on the life-history of Trypanosoma gambiense, with a brief reference to the cycles of Trypanosoma nanum and Trypanosoma pecorum in Glossina palpalis' by Muriel Robertson | [October 1912] |
| MC/27/291 | Letter from Muriel Robertson, Mpumi, Uganda, to Mr [Robert] Harrison, [Royal Society] | 3 August 1912 |
| MC/27/290 | Letter from Muriel Robertson, Mpumi, Uganda, to Mr [Robert] Harrison, [Royal Society] | 15 July 1912 |
| MC/27/292 | Letter from Muriel Robertson, Mpumi, Uganda, to Sir John Rose Bradford, [Royal Society] | 3 November 1912 |
| NLB/48/124 | Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Miss Muriel Robertson, Kampala, Uganda | 19 May 1913 |
| MC/29/74 | Letter from Alexander Frazer, Optician and Scientific Instrument Maker, 22 Teviot Place, Edinburgh, to The Assistant Secretary, The Royal Society | 10 July 1914 |