Florey, Margaret (1904–1994)
Florey, Margaret (1904–1994)
English pathologist. Name variations: Lady Margaret Augusta Florey; Dr. Margaret Jennings. Born Margaret Augusta Fremantle in 1904 in Swanbourne, Buckinghamshire, England; died 1994 in England; dau. of T.F. Fremantle, 3rd Baron Cottesloe; Oxford University, BS (1924); Royal Free Hospital, MD (1934); m. Denys Jennings, 1930 (div. 1946); m. Lord Howard Walter Florey (pathology researcher), 1967 (died 1968).
Scientific collaborator with Oxford research team, who helped develop penicillin as the 1st clinically effective human antibiotic treatment, entered Lady Margaret Hall at Oxford to study English but soon transferred to physiology; received clinical training in medicine at Royal Free Hospital in London and earned MD (1934); joined pathology department of Howard Florey at Oxford (1936); was member of team that demonstrated uses of penicillin during WWII; carried out bacteriological, pharmacological and biological studies, together with Florey, and helped pioneer life-saving development of this potent but non-toxic antibiotic discovered in late 20s by Alexander Fleming; served as lecturer in pathology at Oxford (1945–72); was not acknowledged when Howard Florey, Ernst Chain and Alexander Fleming shared 1954 Nobel Prize for Medicine; continued to work with Florey for 20 years, collaborating on over 30 joint scientific papers; married Florey shortly after death of his wife Ethel (1967).