b. 1887 North Nation Mills, Quebec d. 1971 Victoria, BC
Dr. Margaret Newton was born in North Nation Mills, Quebec in 1887. She earned money to attend university by teaching and entered MacDonald College, McGill's agricultural school. She earned top marks and won the Governor General's medal. Margaret decided to major in plant pathology (the study of plant diseases). She graduated with her BA in 1918, followed by her MA the next year. None of these achievements were easy; she had to fight for the same access to the labs which male students had. Margaret's graduate work was done in Minnesota and Saskatchewan with two wheat rust experts, Dr. E.C. Stakeman and Dr. W.P. Thompson. She received her Ph.D. in 1922, the first Canadian woman to receive a doctorate in agricultural science, and taught at the University of Saskatchewan. In 1925, Dr. Newton was appointed head of the new Dominion Rust Research Laboratory at the University of Manitoba. Dr. Newton became the best-known Canadian expert in stem rust, a fungus which destroys wheat, and her work helped find ways to fight the disease. Crop losses, which had once been at least 30 million bushels, fell to almost nothing. She was the first graduate from an agricultural college to be awarded the prestigious Flavelle Medal from the Royal Society of Canada. She was also given the Outstanding Achievement Award from the University of Minnesota in 1956. In 1969, the University of Saskatchewan made her an honorary Doctor of Laws. She was forced to retire in 1945 due to poor health. Dr. Newton died in Victoria, BC in 1971.
Sources: Despite the Odds pg. 236-247 from Canadian Women: Risktakers & Changemakers Women Inventors Project
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