(Sister) Monica Taylor (1877 – 1968) was an English

protozoologist Protistology is a scientific discipline devoted to the study of protists, a highly diverse group of eukaryotic organisms. All eukaryotes apart from animals, plants and fungi are considered protists. Its field of study therefore overlaps with the ...

. After a struggle to pursue higher education as a nun of the Order of Notre Dame de Namur, and being arrested during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

on suspicion of being a German parachutist in disguise, she received several honours for her work in the field of amoebic zoology.

Early life

She was born 1 November 1877 in St Helens, Lancashire to science teacher Joseph Taylor and his wife Agnes, ''née'' Picton. Her father, her industrial chemist uncle, and her cousin, the chemist

Hugh Stott Taylor Sir Hugh Stott Taylor (6 February 1890 – 17 April 1974) was an English chemist primarily interested in catalysis.Who Was Who, Published by A&C Black Limited In 1925, in a landmark contribution to catalytic theory, Taylor suggested that a cat ...

, are cited as influences on her interest in science. In the late 1890s she attended Mount Pleasant College, Liverpool, a teacher training college founded by the Sisters of Notre Dame. She then joined the Order of Notre Dame as a nun in 1900 in Belgium.

Struggle for education at Glasgow

From 1901 she attended Notre Dame College of Education in Dowanhill, Glasgow. At first, not being granted permission to attend classes at the

University of Glasgow The University of Glasgow (abbreviated as ''Glas.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals; ) is a Public university, public research university in Glasgow, Scotland. Founded by papal bull in , it is the List of oldest universities in continuous ...

, she became an external student of the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a collegiate university, federal Public university, public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The ...

, but was unable to make progress because of the limited laboratory facilities at Notre Dame College. She was then permitted to use the laboratories at Glasgow with a chaperone. After the intervention of biologist

John Graham Kerr Sir John Graham Kerr (18 September 1869 – 21 April 1957), known to his friends as Graham Kerr, was a British embryologist and Unionist Member of Parliament (MP). He is best known for his studies of the embryology of lungfishes. He was invol ...

, who was Regius Professor of Natural History at Glasgow at the time, she was finally allowed to attend lectures at Glasgow, accompanied by her chaperone and, allegedly, separated from the other students by a curtain. She received her BSc with honours as an external student of the University of London in 1910. Combining teaching at Notre Dame with further study, she was awarded a DSc by the University of Glasgow in 1917.

Protozoology

Taylor worked as lecturer in science at Notre Dame College until 1946, and visiting lecturer at the Carnoy Institute, Louvain, Belgium, and

Trinity Washington University Trinity Washington University is a private Catholic university in Washington, D.C., United States. It was founded as Trinity College by the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur in 1897 as the nation's first Catholic liberal arts college for women. T ...

. Taylor worked especially on amoebae and

polyploidy Polyploidy is a condition in which the cells of an organism have more than two paired sets of ( homologous) chromosomes. Most species whose cells have nuclei (eukaryotes) are diploid, meaning they have two complete sets of chromosomes, one fro ...

, but also on

entomology Entomology (from Ancient Greek ἔντομον (''éntomon''), meaning "insect", and -logy from λόγος (''lógos''), meaning "study") is the branch of zoology that focuses on insects. Those who study entomology are known as entomologists. In ...

. She developed laboratory growth materials for the large-scale farming of

protozoa Protozoa (: protozoan or protozoon; alternative plural: protozoans) are a polyphyletic group of single-celled eukaryotes, either free-living or parasitic, that feed on organic matter such as other microorganisms or organic debris. Historically ...

and curated her own natural history collection at Notre Dame College, from where she supplied amoeba material to other scientists. In 1952 she served as Vice-President of

British Association for the Advancement of Science The British Science Association (BSA) is a Charitable organization, charity and learned society founded in 1831 to aid in the promotion and development of science. Until 2009 it was known as the British Association for the Advancement of Scienc ...

, and in 1954 – 7, as Vice-President of Royal Society of Glasgow. In 1953 she was awarded an Honorary DDL by the University of Glasgow as 'a protozoologist of international distinction.' In 1958 she also received the Patrick Neill medal from the

Royal Society of Edinburgh The Royal Society of Edinburgh (RSE) is Scotland's national academy of science and letters. It is a registered charity that operates on a wholly independent and non-partisan basis and provides public benefit throughout Scotland. It was establis ...

'in recognition of her distinguished contributions to Protozoology.'

Author

As well as numerous articles, Taylor published a popular biology textbook with C.H. Waddington. Taylor was interested in her fellow Catholic biologist Bertram Windle, of whom she published a memoir compiled from his letters in 1932 and an article in ''

Nature Nature is an inherent character or constitution, particularly of the Ecosphere (planetary), ecosphere or the universe as a whole. In this general sense nature refers to the Scientific law, laws, elements and phenomenon, phenomena of the physic ...

'' in 1958.

References

{{reflist

External links

Publications by Monica Taylor in ''Nature''
1877 births 1968 deaths 20th-century English women scientists British women biologists 20th-century English nuns Alumni of University College London Alumni of the University of Glasgow Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur