Mary Parke

Dr Mary Winifred Parke
Born March 23, 1908
Bootle, Liverpool, England
Residence Massachusetts, United States
Nationality Plymouth, England
Fields Marine Biologist, Phycologist
Institutions Marine Biological Station (Isle of Man), Development Commission and the Ministry of Supply, Marine Biological Association
Alma mater Notre Dame Convent School, University of Liverpool
Known for Marine botany, Phycology

Mary Winifred Parke, FRS, (23 March 1908 – 17 July 1989) was a British marine botanist and Fellow of the Royal Society (1972) specialising in phycology, the study of algae.[1][2]

Scientific work

Mary Parke contributed a great deal to the study of marine algae, but her pioneering work on culturing algae in the laboratory may be considered her most significant contribution. She discovered that the flagellate Isochrysis Galbana was ideal for feeding oyster larvae; cultures of this species are used for fish farming and in research laboratories throughout the world. Most researchers and fish farmers seeking food for feeding marine animals such as crab larvae or filter feeders such as muscles sought Parke for guidance on the most suitable algae and its subculture during her career.

Parke was also known for her beautiful and accurate drawings of algae using the light microscope, and her renderings of algal structures using the electron microscope set a new standard in the field.[3]

Biography and professional affiliations

Parke was born in Bootle, Liverpool in England on 23 March 1908.[2]

She was awarded the Isaac Roberts Scholarship in Biology while reading Botany at Liverpool University. She graduated in 1929 and was awarded her PhD in 1932, followed by a DSc in 1950.[4]

Parke's first publication, Manx Algae (1931), was written with her PhD supervisor Margery Knight and became a standard reference work on algae.[5] While at the Port Erin Marine Biological Station, Parke conducted research on the commercial rearing and feeding of oyster larvae. This research lead to the description of previously undescribed micro-organisms such as Isochrysis galbana.[4]

From the 1940s Parke led the development of the Plymouth Culture Collection of marine algae and first published the Check-List of Marine Algae in 1953.[5][6] After the war Parke returned to her work on minute plankton and published seminal papers on flagellate systematics, many in collaboration with Professor Irene Manton of the University of Leeds.[4][7]

In 1952 Parke was a founding member of the British Phycological Society, edited The British Phycological Bulletin (1967-1967) and was President of the Society from 1959 to 1960.[5][7][8] Parke was awarded international honours including Corresponding Membership of the Royal Botanical Society of the Netherlands (1970), Membership of the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters (1971), and the Fellowship of the Royal Society (1972).

Parke retired in 1973 and died in Plymouth in 1989 after a short illness.[4][5]

Archives

Parke's archive of personal and scientific papers is held by the National Marine Biological Library at the Marine Biological Association in Plymouth.[9]

Publications

References

  1. ↑ "Parke, Dr Mary : Who's Who". Who Was Who. Oxford University Press. Retrieved 22 October 2012.
  2. 1 2 Boalch, G. T.; Fogg, G. E. "Mary Winifred Parke 23 (March 1908 – 17 July 1989)". Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society (The Royal Society) 37 (November 1991): 382–397. doi:10.1098/rsbm.1991.0019. JSTOR 770035.
  3. ↑ Catharine, M. C. Haines (2001). International Women in Science: A Biographical Dictionary to 1950 (Google eBook). ABC-CLIO, Inc. ISBN 1-576070905.
  4. 1 2 3 4 Green, J.C. (17 February 2007). "Mary Parke, FRS, 1908–1989". British Phycological Journal 25 (3): 211–216. doi:10.1080/00071619000650201. Retrieved 22 October 2012.
  5. 1 2 3 4 Fogg, G.E. "Parke, Mary Winifred (1908–1989)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/57569. Retrieved 22 October 2012.
  6. ↑ "Culture Collection History: History of the Plymouth Collection". Marine Biological Association of the UK. The Marine Biological Association. Retrieved 22 October 2012.
  7. 1 2 "Plymouth Algal Culture Collection" (PDF). The Phycologist (67). Autumn 2004. Retrieved 22 October 2012.
  8. ↑ "Aims and vision". British Phycological Society. Retrieved 22 October 2012.
  9. ↑ Marine Biological Association. Retrieved 26 February 2013.
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