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H. M. Bruce 1903–1974

Hilda Margaret Bruce was born on 5 April 1903; she died on 2 November 1974 after a lifetime devoted to research, much of it in reproductive biology. She was educated at St. Leonard's School and after a year in Switzerland went in 1923 to King's College for Women where she took a B.Sc. degree in Household and Social Science followed by a B.Sc. in Physiology. She then taught for some time at Chelsea Polytechnic, but her career in research started in 1930 when she was appointed to the staff of the National Institute for Medical Research then at Mount Vernon, Hampstead. Here she joined the team working on the isolation and assay of Vitamin D, her part being concerned essentially with the assessment of rachitic and anti-rachitic effects in rats by radiography. Her name appeared on no less than 8 papers describing various aspects of the Vitamin D work, notably three published by the Royal Society and one by the M.R.C.¹ Far less well known but more in line with the mainstream of her future work were her observations at Hampstead on the growth and breeding of the golden hamster (Cricetus auratus), the first recorded on this species newly obtained from the Middle East and thought to have immunological peculiarities².