By
HWResLife
Posted 5 days ago
Fri 07 Mar, 2025 12:03 AM
To celebrate International Women's Day, we're sharing the extraordinary stories of some of the women who have shaped Heriot-Watt University.
Mary Burton, the first woman on the School's Board of Directors
Long before Scottish universities were legally required to accept women, Mary Burton (1819-1909) never gave up the fight for inclusion...and she was successful! Mary managed to persuade the Directors of the Watt institution to admit female students, a truly radical step at the time.
She was one of the first women elected to serve on Parochial and School Boards, and was a tireless advocate for women's suffrage, and later became a Life Governor of Heriot-Watt college and Honorary President of the Watt Literary Association.
Not only did she believe that boys as well as girls should be taught to sew, knit and cook for themselves, she also inspired many women of her time and beyond to break into and excel in roles previously only held by men. Among them, pioneering geologist Dame Marie Ogilvie Gordon and Christina Miller.
Marie Ogilvie Gordon, the first woman to receive a Doctor of Science
Marie began her scientific career at Heriot-Watt College in 1887 before achieving a BSc from the University of London specialising in geology, botany and zoology.
Three years later, she became the first woman to receive a Doctor of Science from University College London and in the 1900s was the first woman to gain a PhD from Munich University. Then went on to be elected as one of the first female Fellows of the Geological Society.
In 1932, she even went on to win the Society's Lyell medal for her ground-breaking research on plate tectonics!
Christina Miller, the first female chemist to become a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh
Dr Christina (or Chrissie) Miller overcame society's perception of deafness to become a distinguished research chemist and inspirational teacher and mentor to generations of students.
As a student at Heriot-Watt College in 1920, she worked as a laboratory demonstrator. Today, her spirit lives on at the university with women continuing to play an important role in teaching, learning and research.
Over the years, Heriot-Watt University has produced a wealth of incredible research led by female academics, from tackling global issues in housing and poverty to innovative solutions to reduce global carbon dioxide emissions.
And the inspiration doesn't stop there, today, hundreds of students are making history on campus, like...
Women in STEM
Check out our Watt Women in STEM Society, a group of students supporting and promoting women, non-binary and allies in STEM subjects at Heriot-Watt.
Their mission is to empower members to achieve their potential by offering a range of events to develop their skills and broaden their networks to take another step forward in gender equality.
