Vera Fretter

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Vera Fretter (5 July 1905 – 15 October 1992)[1] was a British conchologist, and one of the authors (with Alastair Graham) of British Prosobranch Molluscs (1962, revised edition 1994).[2]

Fretter was brought up in Plumstead, London, UK. She trained as a teacher at Furzedown Training College, and taught at a primary school in south-east London.[2] While teaching she studied in the evenings at Birkbeck, University of London, obtaining a first class B.Sc. in zoology.[2] She then took up full-time studies and gained her doctorate in 1936. She worked at the University of Reading from 1954 to her retirement in 1970.[2]

Fretter specialised in the study of prosobranch molluscs. She was awarded the 1986 Frink Medal from the Zoological Society of London: "for her contributions to the understanding of the developmental biology, physiological ecology and functional morphology of the prosobranch molluscs".[3][4] British Prosobranch Molluscs was originally published in 1962 by The Ray Society, and republished in a revised and updated edition in 1994.[5]

Fretter was President of the Malacological Society of London for three years from 1966-9.[6][7][8] She joined the Conchological Society of Great Britain & Ireland in 1966, and remained active in research at the University of Reading until her death.[2] In her will, Fretter left £200,000 to the Royal Society for use in marine biological research.[9]

In 2001, Vera Fretter and Ruth Turner were honoured by the symposium 'New Frontiers in Functional Morphology of Molluscs', held at the second in Vienna, Austria, in August of that year.[10]

External links[]

  • Fretter, Vera, biography (Conchology, Inc.)
  • He sells sea-shells, includes an illustration of the intestine of Cryptochiton stelleri by Fretter (The Royal Society)

References[]

  1. ^ Haines, Catharine M. C. (2001). "Vera Fretter". International Women in Science: A Biographical Dictionary to 1950. ABC-CLIO. p. 103. ISBN 9781576070901.
  2. ^ Jump up to: a b c d e Chatfield, June. "Vera Fretter, 1905-1992". The Conchological Society of Great Britain and Ireland. Retrieved 25 February 2016.
  3. ^ "Winners of the ZSL Frink Medal for British Zoologists" (PDF). Zoological Society of London. Retrieved 26 February 2016.
  4. ^ "Other notices". The Biologist. Institute of Biology. 34–35. 1987.
  5. ^ "British Prosobranch Molluscs. V. Fretter & A. Graham". The Ray Society. Retrieved 26 February 2016.
  6. ^ "Officers and Council for the year 1966-67" (PDF). Proceedings of the Malacological Society of London. Malacological Society of London. 37 (3). December 1966. Retrieved 27 February 2016.
  7. ^ "Officers and Council for the year 1967-68" (PDF). Proceedings of the Malacological Society of London. Malacological Society of London. 37 (4). April 1967. Retrieved 27 February 2016.
  8. ^ "Officers and Council for the year 1968-69" (PDF). Proceedings of the Malacological Society of London. Malacological Society of London. 38 (2). August 1968. Retrieved 27 February 2016.
  9. ^ "Wills". The Independent. London. 6 March 1993. Retrieved 26 February 2016.
  10. ^ Baker, Shirley M.; Padilla, Dianna K. (2004). "New frontiers in functional morphology of molluscs: A tribute to Drs. Vera Fretter and Ruth Turner". American Malacological Bulletin. American Malacological Society. 18 (1): 121–127. Retrieved 26 February 2016.

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