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Shirley Jeffrey

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Shirley W. Jeffrey
Shirley Jeffrey
Born
Shirley Winifred Jeffrey

(1930-04-04)4 April 1930
Townsville, Queensland
Died4 January 2014(2014-01-04) (aged 84)
NationalityAustralian
Alma materUniversity of Sydney
King's College London
Known forIsolation and study of chlorophyll c
AwardsFellow of the Australian Academy of Science (FAA)
Gilbert Morgan Smith Medal
Australian Centenary Medal
Shinkishi Hatai Medal
Member of the Order of Australia (AM)
Scientific career
FieldsMarine Biology
Plant Biology
Aquaculture
InstitutionsCSIRO
Author abbrev. (botany)S.W.Jeffrey

Shirley Winifred Jeffrey AM FAA (4 April 1930 – 4 January 2014) was an Australian marine biologist and naturalist, who researched biochemical separation techniques, specialising in micro-algal research; her discovery, isolation and purification of chlorophyll c allowed for the evaluation of oceanic microscopic plant biomass and photosynthesis. She was christened The Mother of chlorophyll c by one of her early mentors, Professor Andrew Benson of the Scripps Research Institute in San Diego.[1]

Early life and education

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Jeffrey was born in Townsville, Queensland as the daughter of Tom Jeffrey and his wife, Dorothea (née Cherrington).[1] During her younger years, she did not have a particular interest in science, preferring "playing with animals and dolls and helped my mother in the kitchen and loved cooking".[2] While studying at Methodist Ladies College in Melbourne in the early 1940s, she was inspired by a "most memorable teacher", Connie Glass, who led her to be interested in studying the natural world.[1]

Jeffrey completed her secondary schooling in Sydney at Wenona, and completed a Bachelor of Science degree in 1952 and a master's in 1954 at the University of Sydney. She completed a doctorate in biochemical pharmacology in 1958 at King's College, London.[1]

Scientific career

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Dr Jeffrey returned to Australia in 1961 after completing her PhD, to work at the Division of Fisheries and Oceanography at CSIRO; it was during this time she researched pigmentation in microalgae,[3] in 1962 becoming the first person to successfully isolate and purify the accessory pigment chlorophyll c previously known, but incompletely characterised, in various algae.[4]

In 1965, she was aboard the maiden voyage of the scientific expedition on the Alpha Helix, the research vessel of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, which was coming to Australia to study the ecology of the Great Barrier Reef. Her research led to a sabbatical at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in 1973; during this period she met Australian biologist and future husband Dr Andy Heron.[5]

Between 1971 and 1977, Dr Jeffrey was a principal scientist at CSIRO's marine biochemistry unit, then a senior principal research scientist CSIRO Division of Fisheries and Oceanography (1977 to 1981) and then senior principal research scientist and then acting chief of CSIRO Division of Fisheries Research (1981–84). While at CSIRO she was in charge of developing the CSIRO's Collection of Living Microalgae (also known as the Algal Culture Collection). Her co-edited work Phytoplankton Pigments in Oceanography was published in 1996 by UNESCO.[6]

Awards

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Throughout her career, she received many awards, in recognition of her work, including the 1988 Inaugural Jubilee Award from the Australian Marine Science Association;[7] Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science (FAA) (1991)[5] and she was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) in 1993.[8] In 1991 she was awarded the Clarke Medal by the Royal Society of New South Wales.[9]

In 2000, Jeffrey received the Gilbert Morgan Smith Medal from the United States National Academy of Sciences, the first person outside the United States to receive this Medal, and was later elected as a foreign associate of the US National Academy of Sciences.[10] In 2003, she was awarded the Australian Centenary Medal, and in 2007 she received the Shinkishi Hatai Medal at the 21st Pacific Science Congress in Okinawa, Japan.[11]

She was a member, Fellow and former Council member of Jane Franklin Hall, a college of the University of Tasmania and an office-bearer of the Royal Society of Tasmania.[6] In 2012, several of her colleagues recognised her achievements in "Tribute to Shirley Jeffrey: 50 years of research on chlorophyll c" published in Phycologia (Volume 51, 2: 123–125).[12] Despite retiring in 1995, Dr Jeffrey continued to research and publish as an honorary research fellow with the CSIRO until her death in 2014, and was an accomplished violinist in the Hobart Chamber Orchestra.

The standard author abbreviation S.W.Jeffrey is used to indicate this person as the author when citing a botanical name.[13]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d Lesley Clementson, Tom M Jeffrey, Gustaaf Hallegraeff (12 February 2014). "Shirley Jeffrey: Biochemist gave marine science an ocean of knowledge". Sydney Morning Herald. Archived from the original on 7 September 2014. Retrieved 14 August 2014.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  2. ^ Bhatha, R.S (1999). Profiles: Australian Women Scientists. National Library Australia. p. 9. ISBN 0642107017. Retrieved 14 August 2014.
  3. ^ "Jeffrey, Shirley Winifred (1930-)". Trove. Retrieved 14 August 2014.
  4. ^ Jeffrey, S.W. 1962. "Purification of Chlorophyll c from Sargassum flavicans." Nature 194: 600.
  5. ^ a b "Australian Academy of Science Newsletter 95 - Obituaries: Shirley Jeffrey". Australian Academy of Science. Archived from the original on 14 August 2014. Retrieved 14 August 2014.
  6. ^ a b McDougall, Trevor. "Interviews with Australian Scientists - Dr Shirley Jeffrey, Marine biologist". Australian Academy of Science. Archived from the original on 6 April 2015. Retrieved 14 August 2014.
  7. ^ "Shirley Jeffrey AM - Tasmanian Honour Roll Of Women 2006". Tasmanian Government Directory. Archived from the original on 24 March 2012. Retrieved 14 August 2014.
  8. ^ "Dr Shirley Winifred Jeffrey". It's An Honour. Retrieved 30 April 2021.
  9. ^ "Jeffrey, Shirley Winifred". Encyclopedia of Australian Science. Retrieved 30 April 2021.
  10. ^ "Shirley Jeffrey (Heron) 1930-2014" (PDF). International Ocean-Colour Coordinating Group. Archived from the original (PDF) on 14 August 2014. Retrieved 14 August 2014.
  11. ^ "Dr. Shirley Jeffrey receives the Shinkishi Hatai Medal". YouTube - PacificScienceAssoc. PacificScienceAssoc. Archived from the original on 26 September 2014. Retrieved 14 August 2014.
  12. ^ Hallegraeff, Gustaaf M.; Blackburn, Susan I.; Roy, Suzanne; Vernet, Maria; Wright, Simon W. (March 2012). "Tribute to Shirley Jeffrey: 50 years of research on chlorophyll c". Phycologia. 51 (2): 123–125. doi:10.2216/0031-8884-51.2.123. S2CID 82946757.
  13. ^ International Plant Names Index.  S.W.Jeffrey.
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