Isabella Gordon

OBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

FZS FLS (18 May 1901 – 11 May 1988) was a Scottish marine biologist who specialised in carcinology and was an expert in crabs and

sea spiders The sea, connected as the world ocean or simply the ocean, is the body of salty water that covers approximately 71% of the Earth's surface. The word sea is also used to denote second-order sections of the sea, such as the Mediterranean Sea, ...

. She worked at the Natural History Museum and received an

in 1961.

Early life and education

Gordon was born in

Keith Keith may refer to: People and fictional characters * Keith (given name), includes a list of people and fictional characters * Keith (surname) * Keith (singer), American singer James Keefer (born 1949) * Baron Keith, a line of Scottish barons ...

, Scotland on 18 May 1901, the eldest child of Margaret (''née'' Lamb) and James Gordon. She attended Keith Grammar School before going to the University of Aberdeen in 1918. As she had limited funds to support her education she took positions as a student demonstrator in zoology. She graduated from the University with BSc in zoology. She also completed training in primary and science teaching at Aberdeen Teachers' Training College. In 1923 she was awarded the Kilgour Research Scholarship and studied

alcyonaria Octocorallia (also known as Alcyonaria) is a class of Anthozoa comprising around 3,000 species of water-based organisms formed of colonial polyps with 8-fold symmetry. It includes the blue coral, soft corals, sea pens, and gorgonians (sea fans ...

. She then took up postgraduate research scholarship at

Imperial College Imperial College London (legally Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine) is a public research university in London, United Kingdom. Its history began with Prince Albert, consort of Queen Victoria, who developed his vision for a cu ...

which led to her PhD in the embryology of end echinoderms. She continued her research into echinoderms in the United States at both the Hopkins Marine Station of

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...

and Yale University. In 1928 she received a DSc from the University of Aberdeen.

Employment and professional associations

While at Yale University William Thomas Calman, Keeper of Zoology at the Natural History Museum, London, offered her a post at the museum. She returned to the UK and in November 1928 took up the position of Assistant Keeper (2nd class) with responsibility for the Crustacea section. Gordon was the first woman to be appointed as a full-time permanent member of museum staff. In 1937 the Crustacea section was split into two parts; J.P. Harding took over entomostraca while Gordon managed malacostraca as Principal Scientific Officer. During her time at the museum she published many articles and books and identified specimens of crabs sent to her from all over the world. She was a fellow and council member (1950-1953) of the Linnean Society and a member of its curatorial board until her 1981. She was also a fellow of the Zoological Society. In 1960 she became one of the original members of the Editorial Board of the peer-reviewed journal Crustaceana.

Visit to Japan and meeting with Hirohito

In April 1961 on the occasion of Emperor Hirohito's 60th birthday, Gordon was invited to spend several weeks in Japan under the sponsorship of the Japanese newspaper Yomiuri Shimbun. On 5 April she was invited to the laboratories of the Imperial Household where she had an informal audience with the Emperor, a keen marine biologist himself. The visit gave Gordon great pleasure and she retained contact with her Japanese colleagues for the rest of her life.

Humour and limericks

Gordon had a great sense of humour and was a fan of limericks. In 1958 she published a review of Siewing's 'Anatomie und Histologie von Thermosbaena mirabilis' under the title 'A thermophilous shrimp from Tunisia'. The title inspired Dr A.J. Bateman to send her the following limerick: :A thermophilous shrimp from Tunisia :said: when it gets cold I get busier :I dig a hole :And fill it with coal :and there's nowhere as warmer as it is 'ere To which she replied :The idea's OK but Aplysia :Is the rhyme I should choose for Tunysia :A purist and Scot :I simply could not :pronounce it to rhyme with 'it is 'ier-r-r !!

Later life

She retired from the Natural History Museum in 1966 and retained a room in the Crustacea section, which she shared with Dr Sidnie Manton, and continued to work in the museum until about 1971. In 1983 she suffered a stroke which left her partially paralysed. In 1987 she moved from London to live with the family of her nephew Dr John Gordon in Carlisle. Her health deteriorated after a cataract operation in March 1988 and she died on 11 May 1988. In her obituary the Dutch carcinologist, Lipke Holthuis referred to her as The Grand Old Lady of Carcinology.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gordon, Isabella 1901 births 1988 deaths British carcinologists Scottish marine biologists Scottish women scientists Alumni of the University of London Alumni of the University of Aberdeen Officers of the Order of the British Empire Fellows of the Linnean Society of London Fellows of the Zoological Society of London 20th-century British zoologists 20th-century British women scientists