Marion Fyfe

Marion Liddell Fyfe (1 September 1897 – 26 August 1986) was a New Zealand academic, specialising in taxonomy of planarians and other flatworms, the first woman zoology lecturer at the University of Otago, and the first woman to be elected to the Council of the Royal Society Te Apārangi.

Marion Fyfe
Born
Marion Liddell Fyfe

(1897-09-01)1 September 1897
Kakanui, New Zealand
Died26 August 1986(1986-08-26) (aged 88)
Alma materUniversity of Otago
Scientific career
FieldsPlanarian taxonomy and reproduction
InstitutionsUniversity of Otago
RelativesElizabeth Edgar (niece)

Academic career

Fyfe was born in Kakanui in Otago on 1 September 1897 to parents Harriet and William Fyfe.[1][2]

Fyfe graduated with an MSc in zoology in 1935 from the University of Otago.[2] She became the first female zoology lecturer at Otago in 1921, and was acting head of the department on occasion.[3] Her research focussed on flatworms and particularly their reproductive processes.[3]

In 1949, Fyfe became the first woman to be elected to the Council of the Royal Society Te Apārangi. She helped first with editing of proofs for the Transactions of the Royal Society of New Zealand journal, and later became editor. She is credited with improving the quality of the journal.[4][3]

Fyfe retired from the University of Otago in 1957.[5][6]

Elizabeth Edgar, Fyfe's niece, was "one of New Zealand's most esteemed botanists".[6]

Fyfe died on the 26 August 1986.[3][7]

Awards and honours

The genus of planarians Marionfyfea was named in her honour, for "her pioneering taxonomic anatomical work on the Terricola of New Zealand".[8][9]

The Marion Fyfe Scholarship (worth $500) is awarded annually by the Department of Zoology at the University of Otago to the "female zoology student who attained the highest level of achievement in Zoology at 400-level".[10]

In 2017 Fyfe was selected as one of the Royal Society Te Apārangi's 150 women in 150 words.[3]

Selected works

References
  1. Birth certificate 1897/16866 held by the Department of Internal Affairs
  2. "Fyfe, Marion Liddell, 1897–1986". Fyfe, Marion Liddell, 1897–1986 | Items | National Library of New Zealand | National Library of New Zealand. 1 January 1897. Retrieved 2 January 2021.
  3. "Marion Fyfe". Royal Society Te Apārangi. Retrieved 4 January 2021.
  4. "150 Years of Discovery". www.tiki-toki.com. Retrieved 4 January 2021.
  5. Clarke, Ali (27 March 2016). "Scientific women". University of Otago 1869–2019. Retrieved 2 January 2021.
  6. Kerry Ford (2 October 2019). "Dr Elizabeth Edgar B.A., B.Sc., Ph.D., University of New Zealand, F.L.S. 1971–2000, 27 December 1929–1 January 2019". New Zealand Journal of Botany. 57 (4): 197–203. doi:10.1080/0028825X.2019.1676796. ISSN 0028-825X. Wikidata Q104651288.
  7. Death certificate 1986/43557 held by Department of Internal Affairs
  8. Leigh Winsor (2006). "New and revised terrestrial flatworm taxa (Platyhelminthes: Tricladida: Terricola) of Australia and the Subantarctic Islands of New Zealand". Tuhinga: Records of the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa. 17: 81–104. ISSN 1173-4337. Wikidata Q104650288.
  9. Leigh Winsor (2011). "Some terrestrial flatworm taxa (Platyhelminthes: Tricladida: Continenticola) of the Subantarctic Islands of New Zealand". Tuhinga: Records of the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa. 22: 161–169. ISSN 1173-4337. Wikidata Q104650300.
  10. Department of Zoology. "Scholarships in Zoology". www.otago.ac.nz. Retrieved 4 January 2021.
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