Isabella Gordon

OBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

FZS FLS (18 May 1901 – 11 May 1988) was a Scottish marine biologist who specialised in

carcinology Carcinology is a branch of zoology that consists of the study of crustaceans. Crustaceans are a large class of arthropods classified by having a hard exoskeleton made of chitin or chitin and calcium, three body regions, and jointed, paired appendag ...

and was an expert in

crabs Crabs are decapod crustaceans of the infraorder Brachyura (meaning "short tailed" in Greek), which typically have a very short projecting tail-like abdomen, usually hidden entirely under the thorax. Their exoskeleton is often thickened and ha ...

and sea spiders. She worked at the Natural History Museum and received an

in 1961.

Early life and education

Gordon was born in Keith, 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 The University of Aberdeen (abbreviated ''Aberd.'' in List of post-nominal letters (United Kingdom), post-nominals; ) is a public university, public research university in Aberdeen, Scotland. It was founded in 1495 when William Elphinstone, Bis ...

in 1918. As she had limited funds to support her education she took positions as a student demonstrator in

zoology Zoology ( , ) is the scientific study of animals. Its studies include the anatomy, structure, embryology, Biological classification, classification, Ethology, habits, and distribution of all animals, both living and extinction, extinct, and ...

. 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. She then took up postgraduate research scholarship at

Imperial College Imperial College London, also known as Imperial, is a public research university in London, England. Its history began with Prince Albert, husband of Queen Victoria, who envisioned a cultural district in South Kensington that included museums ...

which led to her PhD in the embryology of end

echinoderm An echinoderm () is any animal of the phylum Echinodermata (), which includes starfish, brittle stars, sea urchins, sand dollars and sea cucumbers, as well as the sessile sea lilies or "stone lilies". While bilaterally symmetrical as ...

s. She continued her research into echinoderms in the United States at both the

Hopkins Marine Station Hopkins Marine Station is the marine laboratory of Stanford University. It is located south of the university's main campus, in Pacific Grove, California (United States) on the Monterey Peninsula, adjacent to the Monterey Bay Aquarium. It is h ...

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

and

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...

. In 1928 she received a

DSc DSC or Dsc may refer to: Education * Doctor of Science (D.Sc.) * District Selection Committee, an entrance exam in India * Doctor of Surgical Chiropody, superseded in the 1960s by Doctor of Podiatric Medicine Educational institutions * Dyal Sin ...

from the University of Aberdeen.

Employment and professional associations

While at Yale University

William Thomas Calman William Thomas Calman (29 December 1871 – 29 September 1952) was a Scottish zoologist, specialising in the Crustacea. From 1927 to 1936 he was Keeper of Zoology at the British Museum (Natural History) (now the Natural History Museum). Life ...

, 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 Entomostraca is a historical subclass of crustaceans, no longer in technical use. It was originally considered one of the two major lineages of crustaceans (the other being the class Malacostraca), combining all other classes—Branchiopoda, Cep ...

while Gordon managed

malacostraca Malacostraca is the second largest of the six classes of pancrustaceans behind insects, containing about 40,000 living species, divided among 16 orders. Its members, the malacostracans, display a great diversity of body forms and include crab ...

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 The Linnean Society of London is a learned society dedicated to the study and dissemination of information concerning natural history, evolution, and taxonomy. It possesses several important biological specimen, manuscript and literature collec ...

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 ''Crustaceana'' is a peer-reviewed scientific journal specialising in carcinology. It was established in 1960 and is published monthly by Brill Publishers. The journal is abstracted and indexed by BIOSIS Previews, the Science Citation Index, The ...

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 The is a Japanese newspaper published in Tokyo, Osaka, Fukuoka, Fukuoka, Fukuoka, and other major Japanese cities. It is one of the five major newspapers in Japan; the other four are ''The Asahi Shimbun'', the ''Chunichi Shimbun'', the ''Ma ...

. 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 A limerick ( ) is a form of verse that appeared in England in the early years of the 18th century. In combination with a refrain, it forms a limerick song, a traditional humorous drinking song often with obscene verses. It is written in five-lin ...

. 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 A natural history museum or museum of natural history is a scientific institution with natural history scientific collection, collections that include current and historical records of animals, plants, Fungus, fungi, ecosystems, geology, paleo ...

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 Lipke Bijdeley Holthuis (21 April 1921 – 7 March 2008) was a Dutch carcinologist, considered one of the "undisputed greats" of carcinology, and "the greatest carcinologist of our time". Holthuis was born in Probolinggo, East Java and obtained ...

referred to her as The Grand Old Lady of Carcinology.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gordon, Isabella 1901 births 1988 deaths British carcinologists Scottish marine biologists 20th-century 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 Scottish zoologists 20th-century Scottish biologists 21st-century Scottish women scientists 21st-century Scottish biologists