Ellinor Catherine Cunningham van Someren facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Ellinor Catherine Cunningham van Someren
|
|
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born |
Ellinor Catherine MacDonald
December 4, 1915 Kampala, Protectorate of Uganda, British Empire
|
| Died | September 1, 1998 (aged 82) Nairobi, Kenya
|
| Education | Inverness Royal Academy |
| Spouse(s) |
Gurner Robert Cunningham van Someren
(m. 1940; died 1997) |
| Children | 2 |
| Awards | Order of the British Empire |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | entomology |
| Institutions | Health Service in Kenya |
Ellinor Catherine Cunningham van Someren (born Ellinor Catherine MacDonald; 1915–1998) was a British scientist. She was born in Uganda. She became an expert in entomology, which is the study of insects.
Ellinor was especially interested in mosquitoes. She discovered at least 33 new types of mosquitoes! She worked for the Kenyan Health Service. She also helped with scientific studies in Kenya, Tanzania, and Somalia. In 1962, she advised the World Health Organization about yellow fever. This is a serious disease spread by mosquitoes. For her important work, she received an award called the Order of the British Empire in 1974.
Early Life and Family
Ellinor Catherine MacDonald was born in 1915. Her birthplace was Kampala, in Uganda. Her father, William George MacLeod MacDonald, was from Scotland. He moved to Uganda in 1908. He worked in the Posts and Telegraphs Department. Her mother, Lucy Ellinor Tunstall, was from England.
Ellinor grew up in Nairobi, Kenya. She also spent time on her family's farm in Maragua. For her schooling, she went to Inverness Royal Academy in Scotland. She did not go to university.
In 1940, she married Gurner Robert Cunningham van Someren. He worked with pest control. Later, he became an ornithologist, someone who studies birds. They lived in Karen, Kenya and had two children. Ellinor passed away in September 1998.
Studying Mosquitoes and Diseases
From 1936 to 1973, Ellinor van Someren worked in a lab in Nairobi, Kenya. This lab studied diseases spread by insects. It was part of the Kenya Government Health Service. She became a top expert on mosquitoes in East Africa.
She found and described at least 33 new species of mosquitoes. She also studied their life stages and how they lived in their environment. Controlling these insects is very important for public health. Mosquitoes can spread serious illnesses like malaria, yellow fever, and different types of encephalitis (brain swelling).
Ellinor helped identify mosquitoes in many parts of Africa. These included Kenya, Somalia, Tanzania, and Ethiopia. She also studied mosquitoes on islands in the Indian Ocean. She drew many of the pictures for her scientific reports.
In 1962, she was a consultant for the World Health Organization. She gave advice about yellow fever. As air travel became more common in the late 1960s, she studied mosquitoes on airplanes. She looked at planes flying between Kenya and other places in Africa, Asia, and Europe. Her study found 14 different mosquito species on these planes. Some planes even carried up to 24 mosquitoes! Other types of flies were also found on the planes.
Awards and Recognition
Ellinor van Someren's important work was recognized in several ways. Two species of mosquito were named after her. One of these is called Culex vansomereni. A special group of mosquitoes (a subgenus) was also named Vansomereni.
Her husband also named a bird after her in 1944. It is a type of bird called the black-headed apalis. Its scientific name is Apalis melanocephala ellinorae.
In 1974, she received an honorary degree from Brunel University. This means the university honored her achievements. In the same year, she was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire. This is a special award from the Queen for her excellent work in scientific research overseas.
