Curious Edinburgh - Curious Edinburgh

Helen Sharman, OBE

Jun 222021

Citadel Youth Centre, EH6 6JE

Black and white portrait of Helen Sharman in her space suit with a sketch of the MIR Space Station in the background painted on the wall of the Citadel Youth Centre — Helen Sharman, OBE, by Shona Hardie. The young people of Citadel Youth Centre prepared the site and created the additional stencil artwork around this portrait. Image by Chris Scott Photography

Helen Sharman was the first British Astronaut. She was chemist from Sheffield working for Mars Confectionery when Project Juno, a partnership between the Soviet Union and the UK to send a British national to space, began. After hearing about the opportunity to go space on the radio, Helen applied and was one of four selected from a group of 13,000 applicants. In 1991, after 18 months of intensive training, Helen flew on a Soyuz rocket up to the Soviet Mir Space Station. During her eight days in space, Helen conducted medical, agricultural, materials, and Earth observation work. She also worked with school children, communicating with them via an amateur radio link and bringing seeds on board to be used for a student-led experiment on the effects of space travel on seeds. Helen now works for the National Physics Laboratory and as a UK Outreach Ambassador for Imperial College London. She has spent many years sharing her experiences and passion for space to inspire the next generation of budding scientists, technologists, engineers, and mathematicians.

Dr. Kathy Sullivan

Women in STEM Art Trail Comments Off

Jun 222021

Dynamic Earth, EH8 8AS

Portrait of Dr. Kathy Sullivan in her flight suit with a background that merges space and the ocean displayed at the entrance of Dynamic Earth — Dr. Kathy Sullivan by Shona Hardie; image by Chris Scott Photography

Dr. Kathy Sullivan was the first American woman to complete a spacewalk, the first woman to travel to the bottom of the ocean, and the first person to do both. In 1984, Kathy crewed the Space Shuttle Challenger and completed a historic spacewalk that proved it was possible to refuel satellites in orbit. Kathy’s crucial work on satellites continued in 1990 when she was part of the crew that launched the Hubble Space Telescope. In 2020, Kathy travelled to the Challenger Deep, the deepest known part of the ocean in the Marianas Trench, seven miles below the surface. After the dive, Kathy made a phone call to the International Space Station, marking the two extremes of human exploration. Through these landmark milestones, Katy is fulfilling her lifelong passion to understand the world around her and inspiring others to follow their dreams.

Dr. Anne-Marie Imafidon, MBE

Women in STEM Art Trail Comments Off

Jun 222021

Lothian Street, EH1 1HB

Black and white portrait of Dr. Anne-Marie Imafidon against a colorful background mounted along a brick wall — Dr. Anne-Marie Imafidon by Shona Hardie; image by Chris Scott Photography

(No longer on display) Dr. Anna-Marie Imafidon is the very definition of a prodigy. At just 11 years old, she became the youngest ever girl to complete an A-level in computing and she graduated from Oxford with a Master’s Degree in Mathematics and Computer Science when she was 20. In 2017, Anne-Marie was awarded an MBE for services to young women and Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) sectors. She is the co-founder of Stemettes, an award-winning organisation dedicated to inspiring and supporting young women and non-binary people into STEM careers. Their vision is for women to be proportionately represented in the field and to help all girls make informed decisions about their opportunities. Over the last eight years, Stemettes has delivered free events and workshops to over 45,000 young people across the UK and Ireland.

Zarina Ahmad

Women in STEM Art Trail Comments Off

Jun 222021

Summerhall, EH9 1PL

Black and white portrait of Zarina Ahmed against a bright, tropical background — Zarina Ahmad by Shona Hardie; image by Chris Scott Photography

(No longer on display) After being told that “minorities are not interested in climate change,” Zarina Ahmad became dedicated to increasing participation and improving funding access for under-represented groups. Zarina proved that the issue wasn’t a lack of interest from minorities groups but rather a lack of awareness of the funding available for enthusiastic activists. As a result, she worked with the Scottish government to ensure targets for working with the minority sector on administering the Climate Change Fund (CCF), a fund to support community-led organisations to tackle climate change by reducing carbon emissions. By advocating for climate justice and race equality, and giving a voice to minorities, her work has led to over 140 successful applications to the CCF. By highlighting the need for women as well as people of all backgrounds and faiths to be involved in environmental world, Zarina is helping to bring forward climate justice for all people across Scotland.

The original site of the Usher Institute

History of Public Health Comments Off

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.

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Description of 102 Warrender Park Road in Listed Buildings, Historic Environment Scotland

14 Elsie Inglis Quadrangle, Old Medical School

History of Public Health Comments Off

Nov 252020

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.

Plaques for Sir James Young Simpson and Lord Joseph Lister

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The Usher Institute, Old Medical School

History of Public Health Comments Off

Nov 252020

Teviot Place, EH8 9AG

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 Comments Off

Nov 252020

13 Bank Street, EH1 2LN

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 18^th 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.

Inscription still visible on the building: The destitute sick

Sir Robert William Philip (Wellcome Collection)

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North Loch and the Scott Monument

History of Public Health Comments Off

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 Comments Off

Nov 252020

St Giles’ Cathedral, High St, EH1 1RE

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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