The high-altitude research of Mabel Purefoy FitzGerald, 1911–13

Abstract

Home schooled without a science education, Mabel Purefoy FitzGerald (1872-1973) attended physiology lectures at Oxford in 1897, even though the school was closed to women. She found work as a researcher, published early noted papers and earned the active respect and support of senior scientists of her day. Her laboratory work with the physiologist J. S. Haldane saw her invited to the join the Pikes Peak Expedition in 1911. While the male team members measured the physiological effects of long-term residency at 14101 feet, as the sole woman FitzGerald took measurements of haemoglobin and alveolar air from herself and from mining staff and families at altitudes from 6000 to 12500 feet, travelling to remote mining communities in the Colorado Rockies. A subsequent expedition collected data at lower altitudes. Recorded in two papers, the results presented pioneering evidence of the role of oxygen in breathing.

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