Marie StopesBorn 15 Oct 1880; died 2 Oct 1958 at age 77.Scottish scientist, educator and birth control advocate. She was awarded a doctorate at Munich, Germany, for her work on fossilised plants (1902). As a young girl she said she would spend the first 20 years of her life in science, the second 20 in social projects, and the final 20 years writing poetry - and she did just that. She made her name through her writing and campaigning on family planning services. Her work resulted in the UK's first family planning clinic in Holloway, north London, without publicity on 17 Mar 1921, offering a free service to married women. Its aim was two-fold, first to reach the poor and give them access to birth control, secondly to gather scientific data about contraception. |
