Niki Vermeulen

Mary Somerville

 Edinburgh Women in STEM  No Responses »
Feb 282024
 

53 Northumberland Street, Edinburgh, EH3 6JQ

A two-storey sandstone rowhouse with 5 windows, a white front door, and a small plaque to the left of the front door.

Mary Somerville (1780 – 1872) was a Scottish mathematician and astronomer, and one of the first two women to become an Honorary Member of the Royal Astronomical Society, alongside Caroline Herschel. She was one of the first to suggest the existence of Neptune, and she famously tutored Ada Lovelace, who became the “mother of modern computing”. Somerville wrote many successful journal articles and books in her lifetime, one of which, On the Connexion of the Physical Sciences, was its publisher’s most successful science book until Darwin’s On the Origin of Species. Somerville was the first person to ever be referred to as “scientist”, and her extensive contributions to academia are commemorated by this plaque, at the house where she lived in Edinburgh.

A black plaque with decorative gold knotted borders reading: Mary Fairfax Somerville, 1780-1872, “The queen of 19th century science, astronomer, scientist and polymath, lived here.”
Portrait painting of a dark-haired woman with her hair up in a 1700s style, wearing a dark blue gown with a white ruff and a brown fur stole.
A row of antique book spines with the author Somerville and the following titles: Mechanism of the Heavens, On Molecular and Microscopic Science, Physical Geography, On the Connexions of the Physical Sciences, and Personal Recollections.

Book titles written by Somerville. Books image via Canva, remixed with titles.

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Flora Philip

 Edinburgh Women in STEM  No Responses »
Feb 282024
 

63 Dean Path, Dean Cemetary, Edinburgh, EH4 3AT

A path with a row of old tombstones and autumn leaves on the grass.

Flora Philip (1865 – 1943) was a mathematician and one of the first women to graduate from the University of Edinburgh. When she began her studies, the law prohibited women from studying at Scottish universities, so she enrolled with the Edinburgh Association for the University Education of Women instead. This was an organisation campaigning for higher education for women, offering its own classes delivered by lecturers from Edinburgh University. Upon the passing of the Universities (Scotland) Act in 1889, which allowed women to attend university, Philip was matriculated at the University of Edinburgh and received her degree for her previous studies. She was the first female member of the Edinburgh Mathematical Society and was admitted to the prestigious organisation before she even received her degree. Philip is buried at this cemetery, alongside her husband George Stewart and their children.

A black and white photo (circa 1945) of an elderly woman wearing a dark graduation cap and gown
A large grey tombstone with a square knot carving at the top. The stone is for George Stewart (1865-1938) and his beloved wife Flora Philip, M.A. (14th August 1945) and additional members of their family. Satellite view screenshot of Google Maps Dean Cemetery showing the location of the lower cemetery and the headstone.

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Isobel Hutchison

 Edinburgh Women in STEM, Uncategorized  No Responses »
Feb 282024
 

Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, John Hope Gateway Visitor Centre, Arboretum Place, EH3 5NZ

Botanic garden glass greenhouses with a domed glass building in the background and red azaleas (flowers) in the foreground.

Isobel Wylie Hutchison (1889 – 1982) was a Scottish Arctic traveller, botanist and polyglot. She was a prolific writer and published many books and articles about her travels. Hutchison also recorded film footage of her travels, some of the oldest documentary footage existing today. Her papers were gifted to the National Library of Scotland, and many of the plants she collected on her travels can be found here, at the Royal Botanic Garden in Edinburgh. Hutchison was the first woman to receive the Mungo Park Medal from the Royal Scottish Geographical Society, and in 1949, the University of St Andrews awarded her an honorary degree, recognising her contributions to research and her “indomitable spirit”.

Two portraits of a dark-haired woman, the first dressed in traditional Arctic clothing (late 1920s). The second portrait features the same woman dressed in a dark jumper and wool skirt, sitting on the stone edge of a fountain or pond and petting a Dalmatian dog.
A table with several pressed plant specimens and a watercolour book open to a painting of a tundra-like landscape.
A small stone castle with a walled garden, blooming flowers, and blue skies.

Note: If you wish to view the specimens Hutchison donated to the Botanic Garden, a visit to the Herbarium must be scheduled in advance.

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The original site of the Usher Institute

 History of Public Health  No Responses »
Nov 252020
 

Optional stop: 102 Warrender Park Road, EH9 1ET

Inscription on the building: 'University of Edinburgh. The John Usher Institute of Public Health presented to the University by Mr John Usher of Norton & Wells, baronet. May, MDCCCCII'.

102 Warrender Park Road was home to the Usher Institute from its opening in 1902 until its move to Teviot Place in 1986. The opening of the Usher Institute closely followed the establishment, at the University of Edinburgh, of the first chair of public health in Britain four years earlier. The new university chair needed an institute and, as soon as Sir John Usher pledged his generous donation, building began. Charles Hunter Steward (1854-1924), the first Professor of Public Health, visited laboratories throughout Europe to ensure that the Usher Institute was built and equipped according to the most up-to-date ideas of laboratory design of the time. The building not only functioned as teaching and practical training space, but as a diagnostic laboratory for Edinburgh. The institute conducted chemical and bacteriological research, such as monitoring water quality and epidemics within the city, thereby honoring Usher’s intention that an important role of the Institute would be the application of scientific research to improve population health in the city.

Inscription on the building: 'University of Edinburgh. The John Usher Institute of Public Health presented to the University by Mr John Usher of Norton & Wells, baronet. May, MDCCCCII'.
Inscription on the building: ‘University of Edinburgh. The John Usher Institute of Public Health presented to the University by Mr John Usher of Norton & Wells, baronet. May, MDCCCCII’.

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14 Elsie Inglis Quadrangle, Old Medical School

 History of Public Health  No Responses »
Nov 252020
 
Elsie Inglis Quadrangle
Elsie Inglis Quadrangle

The quadrangle of the University of Edinburgh’s Old Medical School is now called the Elsie Inglis Quadrangle, named after the pioneering female medical doctor. Several plaques here honour medical professionals who all made significant contributions to the practice of medicine. Along with Elsie Inglis (1864-1917), there are plaques for James Lind (1736-1812), who pioneered the use of citrus fruits to cure scurvy, Joseph Lister (1827-1912), who helped to dramatically reduce post-operative mortality rates by establishing new rules of surgery hygiene, and Sir James Young Simpson (1811-1870), who was the first physician to use chloroform as an anesthetic. Take some time to walk around the quadrangle and see if you can find them all.

Dr Elsie Inglis Quadrangle
Dr Elsie Inglis Quadrangle
Plaques for Sir James Young Simpson and Lord Joseph Lister
Plaques for Sir James Young Simpson and Lord Joseph Lister
Plaque for James Lind
Plaque for James Lind

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The Usher Institute, Old Medical School

 History of Public Health  No Responses »
Nov 252020
 

Teviot Place, EH8 9AG

Usher Institute
Usher Institute

The Usher Institute, originally called the John Usher Institute of Public Health, opened in 1902 at a site in Warrender Park Road (see last stop) and was funded by distiller Sir John Usher of Norton. Usher’s generosity to promote and fund public health research was inspired by the French biologist Louis Pasteur. Together with local brewers, Usher took interest in Pasteur’s fermentation experiments and the new science of microbiology. Pasteur, appalled by the state of population health in Edinburgh, convinced the brewers about the new possibilities of disease prevention presented in his research. The idea that illness was caused by germs led to a surge of optimism about medicine’s power to defeat disease. In 1986, when the Usher Institute moved here to the (Old) Medical School Building, the Royal Infirmary still operated just across the road at Quartermile. By this time, the Institute had broadened its work to focus on epidemiology (the study of health and disease in populations broadly understood) and the investigation of other factors that influence population health, such as the efficacy of health services. Plans are underway to relocate the Institute to the BioQuarter (Little France) campus, closer to the current buildings of the Medical School, where a second site has already opened.

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Victoria Dispensary

 History of Public Health  No Responses »
Nov 252020
 

13 Bank Street, EH1 2LN

Victoria Dispensary
Victor

Tuberculosis, or consumption, has long been a major public health issue because it is both a deadly and highly infectious disease. The Industrial Revolution, with cramped housing, primitive sanitation, and widespread malnutrition, created the perfect environment to allow tuberculosis to rise to epidemic levels by the 18th century. Because it affected young people at a high rate and because of the pale skin caused by the disease it was also sometimes called “the robber of youth” and “the white plague.”  The Victoria Dispensary for Consumption and Diseases of the Chest, founded by Sir Robert William Philip (1857-1939) in 1887, was the first of its kind in the world. Together with the Royal Victoria Hospital at Comely Bank founded in 1894, and Polton Farm Colony, Midlothian, founded in 1910, the dispensary formed the heart of the so called ‘Edinburgh Scheme’ for combating tuberculosis. Tuberculosis is still a major public health problem worldwide. The World Health Organisation is committed to eradicating the disease by 2050 with the help of improved drug treatment and prevention strategies.

Plaque for Sir Robert Philip
Plaque for Sir Robert Philip
Inscription still visible on the building: The destitute sick
Inscription still visible on the building: The destitute sick
Sir Robert William Philip (Wellcome Collection)
Sir Robert William Philip (Wellcome Collection)

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North Loch and the Scott Monument

 History of Public Health  No Responses »
Nov 252020
 

Mound Place, EH1 2LX

Mound Place looking over the North Loch
Mound

The Nor’ Loch was drained between 1813 and 1820 to become Princes Street gardens. Draining of the Loch was the result of pressures from Edinburgh’s growing upper class to rid the City of the stench emanating from it. The Loch had become a dumping ground for the population of Edinburgh, including waste from the city’s slaughterhouses. As such, it had become a serious public health issue, even though there was no evidence to suggest that the Loch ever supplied the people of Edinburgh with drinking water. The Mound – the hill you are currently standing on – is manmade, formed between 1781 and 1880 from material collected while digging the foundations for the buildings in New Town. It provides extensive views of Princes Street and the city of Edinburgh, including a view of the famous Scott Monument. Construction of the Scott Monument began in 1840 in honour of the Scottish Poet Sir Walter Scott (1771-1832). It was designed by carpenter and self-taught architect George Meikle Kemp (1795-1844). Beautiful and impressive as it is, the story of how it was built is a dark one. There is anecdotal evidence to show that many of the stonemasons who worked to create it contracted silicosis/tuberculosis from a combination of the intensive stone work required and the dusty properties of the sandstone used to construct it.

Historical reconstruction of Edinburgh Castle and the Nor` Loch by Alexander Nasmyth, 1824. (National Galleries Scotland).
Edinburgh Castle and the Nor’ Loch by Alexander Nasmyth, 1824. The picture was painted after the loch had been drained and is a reconstruction of the historic landscape (National Galleries Scotland).
Building the Scott Monument. Artist: unknown. Date: about 1841-44. (Scottish National Portrait Gallery).
Building the Scott Monument.
Artist: unknown. Date: about 1841-44.
(Scottish National Portrait Gallery)
The Sir Walter Scott Monument being built, view of the Castle. Artist: unknown. Date: about 1841. (Scottish National Portrait Gallery).
Building the Scott Monument.
Artist: unknown. Date: about 1841.
(Scottish National Portrait Gallery).
Sir Walter Scott Monument under construction. Photograph by William Henry Fox Talbot. Date: about 1841-44. Source: Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art.
Sir Walter Scott Monument under construction. Photograph by William Henry Fox Talbot. Date: about 1841-44. (Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art).

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Plaque for Sophia Jex-Blake

 History of Public Health  No Responses »
Nov 252020
 

St Giles’ Cathedral, High St, EH1 1RE

Plaque in St. Giles Cathedral
Plaque in St. Giles Cathedral

Sophia Jex-Blake (1840-1912) became Scotland’s first female doctor when she established a private practice in Edinburgh in September 1878 at 73 Grove Street. In 1885, she opened the Edinburgh Hospital and Dispensary for Women and Children, just a few doors down from her private practice. It was a so-called cottage hospital, a small hospital (6 beds) intended to cater for the immediate needs of the local poor population without requiring them to travel long distances.

Sophia Jex-Blake. Creator: unknown. © The University of Edinburgh
Sophia Jex-Blake. Creator: unknown.
© The University of Edinburgh
Sophia Jex-Blake. Photograph by Swaine. (Wellcome Collection).
Sophia Jex-Blake. Photograph by Swaine.
(Wellcome Collection).

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Elsie Inglis Hospice

 History of Public Health  1 Response »
Nov 252020
 

219 High Street, EH1 1PE

Elsie Inglis Hospice
Elsie Inglis Hospice

The Elsie Inglis Hospice was a maternity hospital originally named simply, “The Hospice.” It was created in 1904 by Dr Elsie Inglis (1864-1917) with the help of fellow medical student Dr Jessie McLaren MacGregor (1863-1906). The two women were among the first female students to attend the newly founded Edinburgh School of Medicine for Women and were both taught by its founder Dr Sophia Jex-Blake (1840-1912). Child mortality was a major public health concern and maternity wards were scarce. The hospice was run by an all-female staff, served the poorest women in Edinburgh’s Old Town, and was the forerunner of the Elsie Inglis Memorial Maternity hospital in Morningside.

Women of Achievement plaque for Elsie Inglis
Women of Achievement plaque for Elsie Inglis
The Hospice in the High Street (from Elsie Inglis by Eva Shaw McLaren, 1920)
The Hospice in the High Street (from Elsie Inglis by Eva Shaw McLaren, 1920) Image from LHSA
Portrait of Dr Elsie Inglis (Wellcome Collection)
Portrait of Dr Elsie Inglis
(Wellcome Collection)

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