Betty Batham

Elizabeth Joan Batham (2 December 1917 – 8 July 1974) was a New Zealand marine biologist and university lecturer. A past president of the New Zealand Marine Sciences Society and a Fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand, Batham directed the Portobello Marine Biological Station at the University of Otago for more than 23 years.

Betty Batham
Born	2 December 1917  Dunedin
Died	8 July 1974  (aged 56) Seatoun
Education	Doctor of Philosophy
Alma mater	University of Otago University of Cambridge
Occupation	Marine biologist
Employer	University of Otago (1950–1974)
Awards	Fellow of the Royal Society Te Apārangi (1962, 1962) Hamilton Award (1947)

Biography

Batham was born in Dunedin, New Zealand on 2 December 1917. She graduated from the University of Otago, where she later taught and conducted research.^[1] She went to the University of Cambridge for doctoral studies, where she researched the sea anemone and worked as an assistant to zoologist Carl Pantin.^[1] In 1947, Batham won the Royal Society of New Zealand's Hamilton Memorial Prize, which recognises outstanding work by an early-career researcher.^[2]

In 1951, after the University of Otago took over the fisheries facility that became known as the Portobello Marine Biological Station, Batham was named its director and served there for 23 years.^[3] She was made a Fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand in 1962^[4] and served a term as president of the New Zealand Marine Sciences Society.^[1]

In 1952 Batham joined the Second Galathea Expedition as it passed around the south of New Zealand, providing local scientific expertise in exchange for the opportunity to collect specimens from deep water.^[5] In 1954 she was a participant in the 1954 Chatham Islands expedition.^[6]

Batham began scuba diving later in her career, believing it to be important to her work. Shortly after stepping down from her post at Portobello due to poor health, she disappeared near the shore of Seatoun in July 1974. She is presumed to have drowned in a scuba diving accident.^[7]

Legacy

In 2004, the University of Otago Department of Marine Science established the Elizabeth Batham Prize in Marine Science.^[3] In 2017, she was selected as one of the Royal Society of New Zealand's "150 women in 150 words".^[8]

The ocean glider operated from 2015 onwards by the New Zealand National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research is named "Betty" in honour of Batham.^[9]

In 1965, malacologist Winston Ponder named the gastropod species Eatoniella bathamae after Batham, as thanks for her assistance when Ponder stayed at the Portobello Marine Laboratory.^[10]

References

1. Jillett, John. "Elizabeth Joan Batham". Dictionary of New Zealand Biography. Ministry for Culture and Heritage. Retrieved 23 April 2017.
2. "Hamilton Memorial Prize". Royal Society of New Zealand. Retrieved 8 December 2014.
3. "History of Marine Science at the University of Otago". University of Otago. 27 March 2014. Retrieved 8 December 2014.
4. 2000 Academy Yearbook. Royal Society of New Zealand. Retrieved 11 December 2014.
5. Anton Frederik Bruun, ed. (1956), The Galathea Deep Sea Expedition, 1950-1952, described by members of the expedition, doi:10.5962/BHL.TITLE.7477, Wikidata Q124811681
6. G A Knox (1957). "General account of the Chatham Islands 1954 Expedition" (PDF). New Zealand Oceanographic Institute Memoir. 2: 1–37. ISSN 0083-7903. Wikidata Q66412141.
7. Truesdale, Frank (1993). History of Carcinology. CRC Press. pp. 192–193. ISBN 9054101377. Retrieved 8 December 2014.
8. "150 Women in 150 Words". Royal Society Te Apārangi. Retrieved 11 November 2020.
9. "Episode 28: Glider Observations in New Zealand's Shelf Seas".
10. Ponder, W. F. (1965). "The Family Eatoniellidae in New Zealand". Records of the Auckland Institute and Museum. 6: 47–99. ISSN 0067-0464. JSTOR 42906115. Wikidata Q58676802.

External links

• Dr Batham discussing Portabello aquarium