Mary Winifred Betts Aitken

Mary Winifred Betts Aitken (b. 1894, Motueka, New Zealand, d. 29 April 1971, Edinburgh, Scotland), was a New Zealand botanist and the first female lecturer at the University of Otago, N.Z.[1]

Mary Winifred Betts Aitken
Born1894
Motueka, New Zealand
Died29 April 1971
Burial placeEdinburgh, Scotland
NationalityNew Zealander
Known forFirst female lecturer at the University of Otago
Spouse(s)Alexander Aitken

Known to friends as "Winnie," she studied at the Nelson College for Girls and received her Bachelor of Science (1916) and Master of Science (1917)[2] degrees from the University of Otago. On her graduation, she received the National Research Scholarship that was awarded at the university each year, which offered her an income of £100 a year, plus lab expenses, so she could conduct independent research.

She was appointed university lecturer in botany in 1920 at age 25, the first woman to earn that designation.[3] She was described by the preeminent botanist Leonard Cockayne as “the most brilliant woman scientist in New Zealand.”[2][3]

In that same year, she married another Otago graduate, the mathematician Alexander Aitken, and the couple remained in New Zealand as Winnie Aitken continued her botany lectures until 1923.[3]

In December 1923, the couple moved to Scotland so her husband could pursue his academic career. (Subsequently, he was named professor of mathematics at the University of Edinburgh.)[3][4]

Awards and honours

In 2017, she was selected as one the Royal Society of New Zealand's "150 women in 150 words".[5]

References
  1. Thomson, A. D. (December 1995). "Winifred Betts, pioneer New Zealand graduate in botany" (PDF). New Zealand Botanical Society Newsletter (42): 16–17. Archived (PDF) from the original on 27 January 2018. Retrieved 9 April 2019.
  2. Clarke, Ali (9 August 2014). "Winifred Betts – botany pioneer". The Hocken Blog Thoughts from the staff of The Hocken Collections – Te Uare Taoka o Hakena. Archived from the original on 6 September 2015.
  3. Blackman, Anna (28 March 2016). "Scientific women". University of Otago 1869-2019. Archived from the original on 2 February 2018.
  4. Roberts, H. Stanley. A history of statistics in New Zealand. New Zealand Lottery Grants Board. p. 75. ISBN 9780959763270.
  5. "150 Women in 150 Words". Royal Society Te Apārangi. Retrieved 11 November 2020.


This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.