Marion Robinson

A world-leader in nutrition research, Marion Robinson reputedly began baking aged four and cooked much of her family’s food by the time she was a teenager. Robinson went to the University of Otago to study home science, a degree which included an optional science specialisation – her only way to study biochemistry without doing a medical degree.

Robinson studied fluorine for a Masters degree, then completed 'brilliant' PhD research at the University of Cambridge looking at trace minerals such as iron, copper and zinc.¹ After she returned to New Zealand with her family in 1957, Robinson was persuaded back into part time work to set up research for the School of Home Sciences – the first trace element laboratory in a dirty outbuilding previously belonging to the School of Mines.² That research group became one of the most highly regarded in the world. Robinson became a Fellow of the Royal Society Te Apārangi in 1978 and became a Professor in 1980.

References:

1. ‘2003 Academy Yearbook’, Royal Society of New Zealand.

2. Ali, ‘Nourishing Science’, University of Otago 1869-2019 (blog), 31 August 2014, https://otago150years.wordpress.com/2014/09/01/nourishing-science/.

This profile is part of the series 150 Women in 150 Words that celebrates women’s contributions to expanding knowledge in New Zealand, running as part of our 150th Anniversary.