Kathleen Maisey Curtis

Kathleen Maisey Curtis, Lady Rigg (15 August 1892 – 5 September 1994) was a New Zealand mycologist and was a founder of plant pathology in New Zealand. Biography Early life and education Curtis was born in Foxton on 15 August 1892 and was educated at Lyttelton West School from 1899 to 1902, Auckland Girls' Grammar School and Auckland University College. She graduated in 1914 with a BA with a Senior Scholarship in botany, and in 1915 was awarded an MA with first-class honours in botany. As a result of the high quality of her academic work she was awarded the 1851 Exhibition Scholarship. Curtis was also awarded the Orient Steam Navigation Company's travelling scholarship, which paid her fare to the Imperial College of Science and Technology, London, and the National Research Scholarship, which she declined. As a result of these awards she was able to travel to London in 1915 to further her study. The Exhibition Scholarship was later extended. Curtis was the first New Zealand woman to graduate with a DSc. Her degree was gained in 1919 at Imperial College London for research on the potato wart disease (Synchytrium endobioticum). She was awarded the Huxley Medal for her thesis research, which was cited as the most outstanding result in mycological research that had been presented for ten years. Curtis' research remains one of the classic contributions to plant pathology and one of the most significant early contributions to plant science made by a New Zealand researcher. At the time of its publication the research was a contribution to the world pool of knowledge but was not a direct contribution to New Zealand plant pathology because it was not until 1970 that the potato wart disease was recorded in New Zealand.