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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