Doris Mackinnon (30 September 1883 – 10 September 1956) was a Scottish zoologist and academic. Her area of research was parasitic protozoa.

In 1927, she was appointed as Chair of Zoology at King's College London becoming the first woman at the College to hold the position of Chair.

Biography

Doris Livingston Mackinnon was born on 30 September 1883 in Aberdeen, Scotland. Her father, Lachlan Mackinnon, was an advocate and Consular Agent for France and Belgium. In his spare time, her father was an amateur scientist, interested in botany, ornithology and astronomy. Her mother, Theodora Thompson Mackinnon, granddaughter of George Thompson, founded and managed a "women's home" for unemployed women. Mackinnon had three siblings. One sister was a silhouette artist while the other, Lilias Mackinnon, was a concert pianist. A brother was an author.

Encouraged by the geologist and palaontologist Maria Gordon, Mackinnon studied botany and geology at the University of Aberdeen. In 1906, she graduated with a BSc with distinction. She was awarded the "Carnegie scholarship" which enabled her to study for a year under Richard Hertwig in Munich. Afterward, she joined Milano Vlès to research at Station biologique de Roscoff in France, and then relocated to the Quick Laboratory, at the University of Cambridge, under George Nuttall. Mackinnon returned to Aberdeen in 1908, where she was an assistant to John Arthur Thomson at the University of Aberdeen. In 1909, she became an assistant to D'Arcy Thompson at University College, Dundee. While there, she worked on her thesis "Studies on protozoa", which she submitted to the University of Aberdeen in 1914, receiving her doctorate. Within two years, in 1916, Mackinnon was promoted to lecturer in Dundee.

While at Dundee, Mackinnon was given a leave of absence to assist with the war effort during World War I. She worked in military hospitals in Liverpool and Southampton, where she used her knowledge of protozoology to help diagnose amoebic dysentery and other infections for the War Office. In 1918, she was recalled to University College, Dundee, because D'Arcy Thompson had taken a new role at the University of St Andrews. Mackinnon became the acting head of the University's zoological department.

In 1919, Mackinnon joined King's College London as a lecturer under Arthur Dendy. She was promoted to reader two years later. When Julian Huxley resigned as Chair of Zoology in 1927, Mackinnon stepped up to the role which held also the title of Professor. In doing so, Mackinnon became the first female chair at King's College. She remained Chair until her retirement in 1949. Her department produced notable academics such as Francis Brambell.

After retiring, Mackinnon worked on an undergraduate textbook, "An introduction to the study of protozoa". She fell ill before it was published, and died from a stroke on 10 September 1956. The book was completed and edited by R. S. J. Hawes.

Work

Between May 1917 and May 1918, Mackinnon worked at the University War Hospital in Southampton with William Fletcher from the Royal Army Medical Corps, focusing on the diagnosis and treatment of dysentery. The pair focused on two forms of Shigella dysenteriae which had been identified by Simon Flexner and Kiyoshi Shiga. They discovered that the Flexner bacillus could go into intermission and be undetectable for periods of four to five weeks, making it very difficult to say when someone was no longer a carrier. They also found that men who were carriers of Shiga's bacillus would be prone to depression and would be no longer fit to be soldiers.

Mackinnon published over 40 academic papers, primarily on parasitic species of protozoa (especially flagellates and sporozoa). She had a reputation for her skill as a lecturer, which stemmed from her time at University College, Dundee. Mackinnon gave broadcast talks for schools and numerous lectures, with a reputation that she never repeated a lecture in 30 years of teaching. These included lectures on the diseases spread by flies, and how good hygiene and the prevention of flies breeding could stop typhoid. She also set up a research centre in protozoology, the only non-medical protozoological research centre in UK.

Recognition

During the 1930s, two genus of protozoa, Dorisa and Dorisiella, were named after Mackinnon in recognition of her work. In 1943, for the 50th anniversary of their first women's admissions, the University of Aberdeen awarded Mackinnon and two other women an honorary LLD. When Mackinnon retired in 1949, she was elected professor emeritus of King's College. She became a fellow of the Linnean Society of London and served on their council.

Selected bibliography

Books

• Mackinnon, D. L.; Hawes, R. S. J. (1961). An introduction to the study of protozoa. Oxford: Clarendon Press.

Journals articles