Margaret Hotchkiss was a distinguished professor at theUniversity of Kentucky. She is a microbiologist known for her work on bacteria in seawater and sewage, and fungi that cause disease. In 1957, she was elected a fellow of theAmerican Academy of Microbiology.
Hotchkiss grew up in Brooklyn, New York, and graduated fromPacker Collegiate Institute andVassar College.[1] In 1922, Hotchkiss earned a Ph.D. fromYale University.[2] Hotchkiss worked atNew York Medical College for seventeen years.[1][3] She also worked atWoods Hole Oceanographic Institution as a visiting researcher, and was a bacteriologist at theNew Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station, and the Department of Health inPaterson, New Jersey.[3] In 1945 Hotchkiss joined the faculty at the University of Kentucky,[3] where she was promoted to associate professor in 1946.[4] She later became the head of the mycology department at the University of Kentucky,[5] and was named a distinguished professor in 1962.[1][6] Hotchkiss also served as the head ofSigma Xi,[1][6] and the head of the Kentucky-Tennessee branch of the Society of American Bacteriologists.[7][8] In 1964, Hotchkiss retired from teaching but continued conducting research.[9][10]
For her Ph.D., Hotchkiss investigated the positive and negative effects of cations on bacterial growth.[11] She then worked withSelman Waksman to assess whether bacteria in sea water could grow[12] and differences in data obtained from visual examination of bacteria compared to growth of bacteria on agar plates.[13] Her marine research included investigations into the nitrogen cycle mediated by bacteria in seawater,[14] and in 1946 she continued her interest in seawater bacteria when she reviewed Claude ZoBell'sMarine Microbiology book.[15] Her subsequent research examined hexosidases inEscherichia coli,[16] and the bacterial community inImhoff tanks[17] that are used for processing sewage.[18] Having become interested in fungi that cause disease while working in New York,[8] she later published on the bacteria found in the human mouth,[19] and biomedical research onhistoplasmosis[20] andNocardia.[21] After retiring from teaching, she focused on using a precisionmicrotome to slice through bacterial cells[8] and investigated the internal structure of bacteria.[22][23]
Waksman, Selman A.; Hotchkiss, Margaret (1937). "On the oxidation of organic matter in marine sediments by bacteria".Journal of Marine Research.78 (3):151–166.doi:10.1357/002224020834162176 (inactive 12 July 2025).S2CID240184203.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: DOI inactive as of July 2025 (link)
In 1957, Hotchkiss was elected a charter fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology.[24] In 1959, she was named to Who's Who to honor her contribution to education.[25] The University of Kentucky named her as the 1962-1963 distinguished professor.[26] She was elected a fellow of theNew York Academy of Sciences.[9][when?]
^Hotchkiss, Margaret (1922).The influence of various salts upon the growth of bacterium communis (Thesis). New Haven, Conn.: Yale University.OCLC83820136.
^Edwards, O.F.; Hotchkiss, Margaret (1963). "DEVELOPMENTAL CYCLE OF AEROBIC ACTINOMYCTETES AS DEMONSTRATED IN ULTRATHIN SECTIONS".Journal of Applied Physics.34 (8): 2528.
^Hotchkiss, Margaret; Edwards, O.F. (1958). "THE MORPHOLOGICAL DETAILS OF NOCARDIA AS SEEN WITH THE ELECTRON MICROSCOPE".The American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene.7 (2): 248.ISSN0002-9637.
