Doris Livingston Mackinnon was born on 30 September 1883 inAberdeen, Scotland. Her father, Lachlan Mackinnon, was anadvocate andConsular Agent for France and Belgium.[1] In his spare time, her father was an amateur scientist, interested inbotany,[2]ornithology andastronomy.[1] Her mother, Theodora Thompson Mackinnon, granddaughter ofGeorge Thompson, founded and managed a "women's home" for unemployed women.[3] Mackinnon had three siblings. One sister was asilhouette artist while the other,Lilias Mackinnon,[4] was a concert pianist. A brother was an author.[5]
Encouraged by the geologist and paleontologistMaria Gordon, Mackinnon studied botany and geology at theUniversity of Aberdeen.[1] In 1906, she graduated with a BSc with distinction.[6] She was awarded the "Carnegie scholarship" which enabled her to study for a year underRichard Hertwig in Munich. Afterward, she joinedMilano Vlès to research atStation biologique de Roscoff in France, and then relocated to theQuick Laboratory, at the University of Cambridge, underGeorge Nuttall.[1] Mackinnon returned to Aberdeen in 1908, where she was an assistant toJohn Arthur Thomson[1] at the University of Aberdeen. In 1909, she became an assistant toD'Arcy Thompson atUniversity College, Dundee.[6][7] While there, she worked on her thesis "Studies on protozoa", which she submitted to the University of Aberdeen in 1914, receiving herdoctorate.[1] Within two years, in 1916, Mackinnon was promoted to lecturer in Dundee.[1]
"An inspiring teacher, rapid but always lucid in exposition, she had a natural dignity and a touch of the grand manner which at all times commanded respect and attention and which could, on occasions, give devastating force to a well deserved reprimand.'"
While at Dundee, Mackinnon was given a leave of absence to assist with the war effort duringWorld War I.[6] She worked in military hospitals inLiverpool and Southampton,[6][9] where she used her knowledge ofprotozoology to help diagnoseamoebic dysentery and other infections[10] for theWar Office.[11] In 1918, she was recalled to University College, Dundee, because D'Arcy Thompson had taken a new role at theUniversity of St Andrews. Mackinnon became the acting head of the University's zoological department.[6]
In 1919, Mackinnon joinedKing's College London as a lecturer underArthur Dendy.[10] She was promoted toreader two years later.[6] WhenJulian Huxley resigned as Chair of Zoology in 1927, Mackinnon stepped up to the role which held also the title of Professor.[10] In doing so, Mackinnon became the first female chair at King's College.[12] She remained Chair until her retirement in 1949. Her department produced notable academics such asFrancis Brambell.[13]
After retiring, Mackinnon worked on an undergraduate textbook, "An introduction to the study of protozoa". She fell ill before it was published, and died from a stroke on 10 September 1956. The book was completed and edited by R. S. J. Hawes.[1]
Between May 1917 and May 1918, Mackinnon worked at the University War Hospital in Southampton with William Fletcher from theRoyal Army Medical Corps, focusing on the diagnosis and treatment of dysentery. The pair focused on two forms ofShigella dysenteriae which had been identified bySimon Flexner andKiyoshi Shiga. They discovered that the Flexner bacillus could go into intermission and be undetectable for periods of four to five weeks, making it very difficult to say when someone was no longer a carrier. They also found that men who were carriers of Shiga's bacillus would be prone to depression and would be no longer fit to be soldiers.[14][15]
Mackinnon published over 40 academic papers,[1] primarily onparasitic species of protozoa (especiallyflagellates andsporozoa).[10] She had a reputation for her skill as a lecturer, which stemmed from her time at University College, Dundee.[1] Mackinnon gave broadcast talks for schools[10] and numerous lectures, with a reputation that she never repeated a lecture in 30 years of teaching.[1] These included lectures on the diseases spread by flies,[16] and how good hygiene and the prevention of flies breeding could stoptyphoid.[17] She also set up a research centre in protozoology, the only non-medical protozoological research centre in UK.[10]
During the 1930s, two genus of protozoa,Dorisa andDorisiella, were named after Mackinnon in recognition of her work.[18] In 1943, for the 50th anniversary of their first women's admissions, the University of Aberdeen awarded Mackinnon and two other women an honoraryLLD.[19] When Mackinnon retired in 1949, she was electedprofessor emeritus of King's College.[1] She became a fellow of theLinnean Society of London and served on their council.[6]
Mackinnon, D. L. (September 1910). "New Protist Parasites from the Intestine of Trichoptera".Parasitology.3 (3):245–254.doi:10.1017/S0031182000002079.S2CID86206559.
Mackinnon, D. L. (October 1937). "A Coccidian from the eggs of Thalassema neptuni Gaertner".Parasitology.29 (4):457–468.doi:10.1017/S0031182000024999.S2CID83654450.
Mackinnon, D. L.; Phillips, Nada E. (January 1946). "Observations on a monocystid gregarine, Apolocystis elongata n.sp., in the seminal vesicles of Eisenia foetida (Sav.)".Parasitology.37 (2):65–74.doi:10.1017/S0031182000013172.PMID21014252.S2CID39950184.
^Oakley, C. L. (1976)."Rogers Brambell – The man and his work". In Hemmings, W. A. (ed.).Maternofoetal Transmission of Immunoglobulins: The Proceedings of a Symposium on Transmission of Immunoglobulins from Mother to Young (Illustrated ed.). CUP Archive. p. 3.ISBN9780521207478.
^"Bacillary Dysentery".The British Medical Journal.2 (3061):283–284. 1 January 1919.JSTOR20338559.
