Agnes Arber

Agnes Arber FRS ( Robertson; 23 February 1879 – 22 March 1960) was a British plant morphologist and anatomist, historian of botany and philosopher of biology. She was born in London but lived most of her life in Cambridge, including the last 51 years of her life. She was the first woman botanist to be elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society (21 March 1946, at the age of 67) and the third woman overall. She was the first woman to receive the Gold Medal of the Linnean Society of London (24 May 1948, at the age of 69) for her contributions to botanical science. Her scientific research focused on the monocotyledon group of flowering plants. She also contributed to development of morphological studies in botany during the early part of the 20th century. Her later work concentrated on the topic of philosophy in botany, particularly on the nature of biological research. Agnes Robertson was born on 23 February 1879 in Primrose Hill, London. She was the first child of Henry Robert Robertson, an artist, and Agnes Lucy Turner, and had three younger siblings, Donald Struan Robertson (who later became Regius Professor of Greek in the University of Cambridge), Janet Robertson, who later became a portrait painter, and Margaret Robertson (married name Hills), who was a notable suffragist and local politician. Her father gave her regular drawing lessons during her early childhood, which later provided her with the necessary skills to illustrate her scientific publications herself. At the age of eight Robertson began attending the North London Collegiate School founded and run by Frances Buss, one of the leading proponents for girls' education. Under the direction of the school's science teacher Edith Aitken, Robertson discovered a fascination with botany, publishing her first piece of research in 1894 in the school's magazine and later coming first in the school's botany examinations, winning a scholarship. It was here that Robertson first met Ethel Sargant, a plant morphologist who gave regular presentations to the school science club.