Helen Muir
Helen Muir CBE, FRS | |
---|---|
Born | Isabella Helen Mary Muir 20 August 1920 Nainital, India |
Died | 28 November 2005 Bedale, Yorkshire, UK | (aged 85)
Nationality | British |
Occupation | biochemist |
Honours |
Isabella Helen Mary Muir
Personal life
Early life
Muir was born in India to G. B. F. (Basil) Muir and Gladys Helen Mary, and spent the first 10 years of her life there.[1] Until moving to Europe in 1930, Muir had no formal education and was educated by her mother.[2] At the age of 10, Muir began her general education at a boarding school in Montreux, Switzerland and at the Downe House in Berkshire, England. She began attending Somerville College in Oxford, England in 1940, with the original intentions of studying medicine. However, under the influence of her tutor, Dorothy Hodgkin, she switched her area of focus to chemistry. She graduated in 1944 with a second-class degree.[1] She then went on to earn her Doctor of Philosophy in 1947 for a thesis on the chemical synthesis of penicillin – the supply of penicillin to stop wound infection was of high priority, as she did her research during World War II.[2]
Adult life
Muir, a "fiery redhead", never married.
Later life and death
Muir retired to Yorkshire, where her interest in science and medicine continued. She added solar panelling to her house and worked to preserve the habitats of local wildlife. After battling breast cancer for several years, she died on 28 November 2005 in her home near Bedale, Yorkshire.[1]
References
- ^ doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/96567. Retrieved 2 November 2013. (Subscription or UK public library membershiprequired.)
- ^ a b c d e f Hardingham, Tim. "Helen Muir" (PDF). Retrieved 2 November 2013.
- ^ ISBN 978-1576070901.
- PMID 13773630.
- PMID 4241780. Retrieved 14 October 2014.
- ^ a b Richmond, Caroline (4 January 2006). "Obituary: Helen Muir". The Guardian. Retrieved 14 October 2014.
- ISBN 978-1576070901.
- ^ Hardingham, Tim (2018). "Isabella Helen Mary Muir CBE. 20 August 1920—28 November 2005". Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society. doi:10.1098/rsbm.2017.0042
Further reading
- Richmond, Caroline (4 January 2006). "Obituary: Helen Muir". The Guardian. Retrieved 23 October 2012.
- Staff (15 December 2005). "Obituaries: Professor Helen Muir". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 23 October 2012.
- Hardingham, Tim (June 2006). "Obituaries: Helen Muir (1920–2005)" (PDF). The Biochemist. Retrieved 23 October 2012.