Dr Muriel Wilson was the first woman to receive a PhD from the University of Exeter.
Tributes paid for first woman to receive PhD from Exeter
The first woman to receive a PhD from the University of Exeter, has died at the age of 101.
Dr Muriel Wilson was born in 1910 in Plymouth, Devon and initially studied at Imperial College, London where she attained a first-class honours degree in chemistry. She then came to Exeter to undertake her PhD in the same subject, followed by a teaching qualification.
She was awarded her PhD in 1933.
After her studies she worked for a short time as a food scientist before becoming a meteorologist for the RAF during the second world war.
At the end of the war Dr Wilson returned to the West Country to pursue her career in teaching, chiefly in St Austell, Cornwall where she became head of science at St Austell Girls’ Grammar School and subsequently of the merged boys and girls grammar school.
She was an inspirational teacher to many, so much so that some of her pupils stayed in touch throughout her long retirement.
“I had two or three letters from former pupils after she died,” said her nephew Peter Wilson. “They included quite a long letter from one gentleman. He received a place at Cambridge after being taught at school in St Austell and he attributed that to my Aunt.”
On another occasion Dr Wilson had a pupil interested in a career in medicine, who was told that she would need to learn some basic Organic Chemistry before going up to Cambridge. That branch of chemistry was not then part of the A level syllabus nor was one in which Dr Wilson had a particular expertise..
“She read up on it, so that she was always two or three paces ahead of her pupil and was thus able to help her secure a place at Girton College,” said Mr Wilson.
Mr Wilson said his Aunt spoke fondly of her time at Exeter. Her love of academia continued after her retirement and she studied for an Open University degree in maths when in her eighties. In her nineties she acquired her first computer and enjoyed playing bridge on the internet.
Although Dr Wilson never married and had children of her own, she was a keen and much loved family member.
“She had an amazing memory and an amazing interest in the members of the family,” said Mr Wilson. “She had nine great nephews and nieces and ten great-great ones, most of whom she saw and whose company she enjoyed a lot. She had a very good grip of what everybody in the family was doing.”
Dr Wilson celebrated her 100th birthday with family in St Austell in December 2010.
She died this January, aged 101.
Date: 2 March 2012
