RSL Portraiture – Abdus Salam

Abdus Salam – Theoretical Physicist Nobel Prize for Physics (1926- 1996) 

Abdus Salam broke many barriers to become the first Muslim Pakistani to win a Nobel Prize for science. He lived in Oxford.

About Abdus Salam:

Further resources:

Find the full list of the pioneering members of the scientific community featured in our portraiture on our previous blog post.

RSL Portraiture – Dame Louise Johnson and Charlotte Trower

Dame Louise Johnson – biophysicist and structural biologist (1940 – 2012)

Louise Johnson is an inspiring female scientist described as one of the pioneering spirits of protein crystallography and structural enzymology, and remembered for her kindness and mentoring.

About Louise Johnson:

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Charlotte Trower – botanical artist (1855-1928)

Charlotte Trower, “a gifted botanical watercolourist”, was known as an amateur botanist. During her time, amateur botany and flower painting were undervalued and not worthy of being part of natural history. Yet, in collaboration with other amateur botanists, her sister Alice and George Claridge Druce, she produced detailed drawings that have contributed to our contemporary knowledge of the flora of the British Isles.

About Charlotte Trower:

About the illustrations:

  • The Oxford Ragwort, 1 May 1907, first illustration produced by Charlotte Trower after she and her sister began their association with G.C.Druce. The original is held in the Sherardian Library of Plant Taxonomy, Bodleian libraries. Shelfmark: Oxford Ragwort MS Sherard 428, f.12.
  • Monkey Orchid 7 June 1907 was produced by Charlotte Trower. The Monkey Orchid was discovered by G.C. Druce. He kept the precise location secret from his collaborators and only revealed the site to the Trower Sisters many years later. The original is held in the Sherardian Library of Plant Taxonomy, Bodleian Libraries. Shelfmark: Monkey Orchid MS Sherard 439, f.27.
  • Search Trower paintings Index (ox.ac.uk)

Find the full list of the pioneering members of the scientific community featured in our portraiture on our previous blog post.

RSL Portraiture – Nikolaas Tinbergen and Oliver Sacks

Nikolaas Tinbergen – ethologist, Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (1907-1988)

We celebrate Nikolaas Tinbergen for his illustrious contributions in the field of ethology alongside his lifelong battle with depression.

About Nikolaas Tinbergen:

 Further resources:

 Oliver Sacks –neurologist and author (1933-2015) 

Oliver Sacks is one of the few scientists whose work became well-known through his published accounts of neurological case stories, particularly the adaptation of his book ‘Awakenings’ into a film starring famous American actors. He was also a man who lived at a time when he had to hide his homosexuality for fear of imprisonment or chemical castration. We are grateful to his foundation for allowing us to include this eminent Oxford alumnus in our portraiture.

About Oliver Sacks:

 Further resources:

Find the full list of the pioneering members of the scientific community featured in our portraiture on our previous blog post.

RSL Portraiture – Edith Bulbring

Edith Bülbring – pharmacologist and smooth-muscle physiologist (1903-1990)

About Edith Bülbring:

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Find the full list of the pioneering members of the scientific community featured in our portraiture on our previous blog post.

RSL Portraiture – Acland Map of Oxford

Acland Map of Oxford 1854

Sir Henry Acland was a physician, educator, and Regius Professor of Medicine at Oxford. One of his main interests was sanitary and public health matters. In 1854, he published his Memoir on the cholera at Oxford, in the year 1854: with considerations suggested by the epidemic. The map indicates areas of three outbreaks in 1832, 1849, and 1854 in Oxford. Very little is known about the identity of the illustrator apart from the notation that his ‘Memoir was drawn by a Lady,’ reflecting the lack of full recognition of female contributions in science in the 19th century.

More about Henry Acland and the map:

  • Fox, R.  (2014, September 25). Acland, Sir Henry Wentworth, first baronet (1815–1900), physician. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. https://doi-org.ezproxy-prd.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/10.1093/ref:odnb/62
  • Acland, H. W. (Henry W. (1856). Memoir on the cholera at Oxford, in the year 1854: with considerations suggested by the epidemic. J. Churchill. Available in SOLO http://tinyurl.com/wx9uhx8b
  • Acland, H. W. (Henry W. (1855). Map of Oxford, to illustrate Dr. Acland’s Memoir on cholera in Oxford in 1854, : showing the localities in which cholera & choleraic diarrhœa occurred in 1854, and cholera in 1832 & 1849; together with the parts of the town described as unhealthy, by Omerod, Greenhill & Allen, and a writer in the Oxford Herald; the parts remedied since the date of their descriptions; the districts still undrained; the parts of the river still contaminated by sewers, in 1855; and the contour levels.. [Map]. J. Churchill. https://digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/objects/e290f1f9-ef2c-4779-a326-42f79f69a992/

Find the full list of the pioneering members of the scientific community featured in our portraiture on our previous blog post.

RSL Portraiture – Alan Turing

Alan Turing – mathematician, computer scientist (1912-1954)

Alan Turing is remembered for breaking the German naval Enigma Code during World War II, which helped end the war earlier. He is also considered to be the forefather of modern computer science. He faced profound discrimination due to his homosexuality and his life ended tragically.  Alan Turing represents an important LGBT historical figure in science whom we honour in our portraiture.  The University of Oxford is one of the five founding universities of the Alan Turing Institute, the national institute for data science, located at the Oxford Internet Institute in St Giles, Oxford.

About Alan Turing:

Further resources:

Find the full list of the pioneering members of the scientific community featured in our portraiture on our previous blog post.

RSL Portraiture – Maryam Mirzakhani

Maryam Mirzakhani – mathematician (1977-2017)

Maryam Mirzahkani is an inspiring Iranian mathematician who was the first woman to be awarded a Fields Medal.  The society for women and non-binary students studying mathematics at the university of Oxford bears her name.  Maryam visited Oxford in 2015 to meet the society and collect the Clay Mathematics Institute Research Award.

About Maryam Mirzakhani:

Further Resources:

Find the full list of the pioneering members of the scientific community featured in our portraiture on our previous blog post.

RSL Portraiture – Alan Powell Goffe

Alan Powell Goffe – pathologist (1920-1966)


About Alan Powell Goffe:

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Find the full list of the pioneering members of the scientific community featured in our portraiture on our previous blog post.

RSL Portraiture – Mary Winearls Porter

Mary Winearls Porter – crystallographer and geologist (1886-1980)


About Mary Winearls Porter:

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Find the full list of the pioneering members of the scientific community featured in our portraiture on our previous blog post.

RSL Portraiture – Mabel Purefoy Fitzgerald

Mabel Purefoy FitzGerald – physiologist and clinical pathologist (1872-1973)


About Mabel Purefoy FitzGerald: 

 Further Resources:

  • Dill, D.B, Mabel Purefoy FitzGerald – our second centenarian. Physiologist 16, 247–248 (1973). Available in SOLO http://tinyurl.com/wvpefj3v
  • Tissot Van Patot, Martha C. “Getting Lost in History: Mabel Purefoy FitzGerald and the Origins of Hydrochloric Acid in the Gastric Mucosa.” Function (Oxford, England) 2.6 (2021). Available in SOLO http://tinyurl.com/42tbed6b

Find the full list of the pioneering members of the scientific community featured in our portraiture on our previous blog post.