17 Facts About Margaret Blackwood

Dame Margaret Blackwood was an Australian botanist and geneticist.

Margaret Blackwood attended the University of Melbourne and lectured there for the majority of her career, becoming deputy chancellor after her academic retirement.

Margaret Blackwood was appointed Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1981 and was inducted posthumously into the Victorian Honour Roll of Women in 2001.

Margaret Blackwood was born in 1909 in South Yarra, a suburb of Melbourne.

Margaret Blackwood's parents were Robert Leslie Blackwood and Muriel Pearl, both teachers, and her older brother was the engineer Sir Robert Blackwood.

Margaret Blackwood enrolled at the University of Melbourne in 1934 and studied part-time, continuing to teach to support herself.

Margaret Blackwood completed a Bachelor of Science in 1938 and a Master of Science in botany in 1939.

Margaret Blackwood first worked as a drill instructor before working on the creation of a cipher for the Royal Australian Air Force.

Margaret Blackwood was promoted to the rank of Wing Officer in January 1945 and was discharged in January 1946.

Margaret Blackwood was awarded a scholarship to study at the University of Cambridge's Newnham College from 1948 to 1950.

Margaret Blackwood returned to the University of Melbourne in 1951 as a senior lecturer in botany and received a travelling scholarship to attend the University of Wisconsin in 1958 and a research fellowship at the University of Birmingham in 1959.

Margaret Blackwood was made a Member of the Order of the British Empire in 1964 and was appointed Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1981.

Margaret Blackwood was made a fellow of the Australian and New Zealand Association for the Advancement of Science and the Australian Genetics Society in 1979.

Margaret Blackwood was a fellow of two of the University of Melbourne's residential colleges, Janet Clarke Hall and Trinity College.

Margaret Blackwood was awarded an honorary Legum Doctor by the University of Melbourne in 1983.

Margaret Blackwood died in 1986, three years after retiring as deputy chancellor of the University of Melbourne.

Margaret Blackwood was inducted into the Victorian Honour Roll of Women in 2001.