Helen Lucia Mary Pixell

Helen Lucia Mary Pixell
Born25 July 1878
Frampton Cotterell, Gloucestershire, England
Died29 May 1957 (age 79)
Oxford, England
Burial place
Holywell, City of Oxford, Oxfordshire, England
Other namesHelen L M Pixell-Goodrich, Helen Pixell-Goodrich, Helen Goodrich
EducationBSc in Zoology, Bedford College, London (1901); DSc (1915)
OccupationsProtozoologist, Marine biologist
Employer(s)Bedford College, University of London; University of Oxford
Known forResearch on Protozoa and marine fauna
Notable workTwo New Species of the Phoronidea from Vancouver Island (1912)
SpouseEdwin Stephen Goodrich (married 1913)
AwardsReid Fellow (1910-1913), Beit Memorial Fellowship (1912)

Helen Lucia Mary Pixell Goodrich (25 July 1878 – 29 May 1957) was a British zoologist and researcher notable for her studies on marine fauna and protozoa.

Early life

Helen Lucia Mary Pixell was born on 25 July 1878 to the Reverend Charles Henry Vincent Pixell and Edith Mary Wilson.[better source needed]

Education and career

Pixell graduated with a BSc in zoology from Bedford College, London in 1901. In 1904 she became a Junior Demonstrator at Bedford College.

Pixell received a Reid Fellowship in 1910 that funded her until 1913 and enable her to conduct research marine fauna in the Georgian Strait.

In 1911, she was provided with quarters by the Canadian Government at Departure Bay, where she dredged British Columbian waters off Vancouver Island. The material she collected was presented to the British Natural History Museum for ecological examination.

Pixell received a Beit Memorial Fellowships for Medical Research in 1913.

In 1915, she was awarded a DSc for her research; in 1942 she received her M.A.

Research

While she worked at Bedford College at the University of London, she wrote a chapter on polychaetes in the volume describing the scientific results of the Scottish National Antarctic Expedition on the S.Y. Scotia from 1902 to 1904.

She researched oral hygiene and the role of mouthwash as an antiseptic, and published details on making mouthwash.

Her research on Entamoeba histolytica was reviewed in a 1916 volume of Nature. Her 1918 book, Canning and Bottling, was briefly reviewed in the Saturday Review of Politics, Literature, Science and Art.

While at Oxford, she worked on the science of fruit preservation and bee diseases. In a 1997 book on science conducted at Oxford, Jack Morrell described Helen as "a dominating figure in the laboratory compared with her husband".

She also contributed to the ninth edition of Bolles Lee's Microtomist's vade-mecum and her contribution was noted in a 1929 review of the book.

Awards and honors

In 1946, the P.L. Misra named a type of protist in the Gregarinasina class, Grebneckiella pixellae, in honor of Pixell's work on Grebneckiella.

First page from Pixell, H. L. M. (1912). Memoirs: Two New Species of the Phoronidea from Vancouver Island. Quarterly Journal of Microscopical Science, 58(230), 257-284.

Personal life

Pixell married Edwin Stephen Goodrich in 1913; he was a comparative vertebrate morphologist. While they shared similar professional interests, they kept their scientific work largely separate.

She died in 1957.

Selected publications

References

  1. ↑ "England and Wales Birth Registration Index, 1837-2005". FreeBMD. Free UK Genealogy. Retrieved 3 February 2025. Helen Lucia M. Pixell, birth registered in 1878, Kensington district.
  2. ↑ "Edwin Stephen Goodrich". The Royal Society.
  3. ↑ "England and Wales Birth Registration Index, 1837-2005". FreeBMD. Free UK Genealogy. Retrieved 3 February 2025. Charles Henry Vincent Pixell, birth registered in September quarter 1840, Kings Norton district, volume XVIII, page 375.
  4. ↑ "England and Wales Birth Registration Index, 1837-2005". FreeBMD. Free UK Genealogy. Retrieved 3 February 2025. Edith Mary Wilson, birth registered in March quarter 1843, Cambridge district, volume XIV, page 12.
  5. 1 2 Sylph, Ann (May 2016). "Women in Zoology : moving into the 20th century". Journal of Zoology. 299 (1). doi:10.1111/(ISSN)1469-7998. Retrieved 2025-02-02 – via ZSL Publications.
  6. ↑ "Bedford College for Women". Marylebone and Paddington Mercury. 1912-06-22. p. 5. Retrieved 2025-02-07.
  7. ↑ Endowment of research - appointments to Beit Memorial Fellowships. (1912, December 16). London Evening Standard, p. 12.
  8. ↑ Medical research - Beit Foundation Fellowships. (1912, December 16). Evening Mail, p. 4.
  9. ↑ "FAIR SCIENTISTS". Southland Times. No. 17256. 29 January 1913. p. 3.
  10. ↑ "Fellowship Records". Wellcome Collection. Retrieved 2025-02-07.
  11. ↑ Sylph, Ann (May 2016). "Women in Zoology : moving into the 20th century". Journal of Zoology. 299 (1). doi:10.1111/(ISSN)1469-7998. Retrieved 2025-02-02 – via ZSL Publications.
  12. ↑ "Beit Fellowships." The Queen, December 21, 1912.
  13. ↑ "University Intelligence". The Birmingham Post. 1924-12-11. p. 3. Retrieved 2025-02-07.
  14. ↑ Scottish National Antarctic Expedition; Bruce, William S.; Chree, Charles; Darwin, George Howard; Hepburn, David.; Mossman, R. C.; Wilton, David W. (1907). Report on the scientific results of the voyage of S.Y. "Scotia" during the years 1902, 1903 and 1904, under the leadership of William S. Bruce. Edinburgh: Scottish Oceanographical Laboratory. doi:10.5962/bhl.title.6832. Retrieved 2026-04-26.
  15. ↑ Year Book of the American Pharmaceutical Association. Washington, D.C. 1912. pp. 159–160.
  16. ↑ "Glycerin und Antiseptica". Correspondenz Blatt Für Schweizer Ärzte (in German). Vol. 47. 1917. p. 1248.
  17. ↑ Lockyer, Sir Norman (October 26, 1916). Nature. Vol. 98. Macmillan Journals Limited. p. 158.
  18. ↑ "Our Library Table". The Saturday Review of Politics, Literature, Science and Art. Saturday Review. 5 October 1918. p. 922.
  19. ↑ Morrell, Jack (1997-12-04). Science at Oxford, 1914-1939. Oxford University Press. p. 13. doi:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198206576.003.0002. ISBN 978-0-19-820657-6.
  20. ↑ "SCIENTIFIC. - SCIENCE NOTES. | HOW OLD IS A BEE. - The Australasian (Melbourne, Vic. : 1864 - 1946) - 16 Apr 1921". Trove. 16 April 1921. p. 38. Retrieved 2025-02-03.
  21. ↑ Morrell, Jack (1997-12-04). Science at Oxford, 1914-1939. Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198206576.003.0008. ISBN 978-0-19-820657-6.
  22. ↑ Lee, Arthur Bolles; Gatenby, J. Brontë (1928). Bolles Lee's Microtomist's vade-mecum, a handbook of the methods of microscopic anatomy (9th ed.). Philadelphia: P. Blakiston's & Co. OCLC 344353.
  23. ↑ Parkes, A. S. (1929). "Review of Bolles Lee's Microtomist's Vade-Mecum. Ninth Edition". Science Progress in the Twentieth Century (1919-1933). 23 (91): 549–550. ISSN 2059-4941. JSTOR 43429929.
  24. ↑ Misra, P. L. (1946-09-01). "On the Life-History of a new Gregarine, Grebneckiella pixellae, sp. nov., from the Centipede, Scolopendra Morsitans Linn., with a note on the family Dactylophoridae Léger, 1892". Records of the Zoological Survey of India: 324–337. doi:10.26515/rzsi/v44/i3/1946/162369. ISSN 2581-8686.
  25. ↑ "Article clipped from The Times". The Times. 1913-08-13. p. 9. Retrieved 2025-02-07.
  26. ↑ "Edwin Stephen Goodrich". Journal of Cell Science. S2-87 (348): 317–355. 1946-12-01. doi:10.1242/jcs.s2-87.348.317. ISSN 0021-9533.
  27. ↑ "Helen Lucia Mary Goodrich (née Pixell) - National Portrait Gallery". National Portrait Gallery. Retrieved 2026-04-26.
  28. ↑ Review of Canning and Bottling