Marion Isobel Newbigin

Marion Isabel Newbigin (1869 – 20 July 1934) was a Scottish geographer, biologist and academic author. She was noted for her book Animal Geography, a key work in the field of animal geography/zoogeography, and as editor of the Scottish Geographical Magazine.

Early life and education Newbigin was born at Alnwick, Northumberland the daughter of local pharmacist James Lesslie Newbigin. She had four sisters and three brothers. She and all of her sisters were ardent feminists, and two of them also had academic careers. Universities in Scotland did not admit women, so she took courses at the Edinburgh Association for the University Education of Women, a private organisation that offered lectures by the faculty of the University of Edinburgh; at University College, Aberystwyth, in Wales; and at the Edinburgh School of Medicine for Women, once it was formed.

Scientific career While a student in London, Newbigin began conducting research, based at the laboratories of the Royal College of Physicians. Her research was wide ranging and included the colouration of plants and animals, especially marine species. Her findings were published in journal articles, which she authored individually or with collaborators, most notably N.D. Paton. Later she studied and reported on the large collections of marine organisms collected by the Challenger expedition, and undertook further research, expanding her natural history knowledge at the Marine Biological Station Millport. She brought her work and the published literature on marine organisms' colouration together in Colour in Nature (1898) and Life by the Sea Shore (1901), which were praised as both scientifically rigorous and remarkably accessible. These early works of hers remained widely read for many years after their publication. She was highly regarded by her students and those who saw her public lectures. She continued to lecture at various institutions, and later in her life devoted much of her time to writing geography textbooks.

Selected bibliography Among the published works of Marion Newbigin are:

Introduction to physical geography (1912) An elementary geography of Scotland (1913). Oxford : The Clarendon Press Animal geography: the faunas of the natural regions of the globe (1913). Oxford : The Clarendon Press. Ordnance survey maps : their meaning and use; with descriptions of typical sheets (1913). Edinburgh: W. & A.K. Johnston. Geographical Aspects of Balkan problems in their relation to the great European war (1915). Oxford : The Clarendon Press. Aftermath (1920)