Elizabeth Nesta Marks AO (1918 - 2002)

Born 28 Apr 1918 in Dublin, County Dublin, Ireland

Ancestors

Died 25 Oct 2002 at age 84 in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Scott Davis [send private message]

Biography

Elizabeth Marks AO is Notable.

Elizabeth Nesta "Pat" Marks was born in Dublin, Ireland on 28 April 1918. Her parents were Edward Oswald (Ted) Marks and Ernestine Roberta Barbara (Nesta) Drury. He father was recorded as being a Captain in the R.A.M.C. on active service.^[1] They were both from Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. Her nickname "Pat" or "Patricia" was derived from having been Christened at St Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin.^[2] Her father had travelled to Ireland in 1913 to study medicine and married her mother while there in 1914. The family returned to Queensland in 1920.^[3] She lived in the same house in Wickham Terrace, Brisbane for over 60 years. She was an only child and never married.

She studied at St John's Cathedral School in Brisbane, then boarded at Glennie Memorial School in Toowoomba, where she finished as Dux of the school in 1934. She studied zoology at University of Queensland, with honours in parasitology of marsupial animals in 1939, and M.Sc. in 1940.

She worked for the Department of Entomology and Mosquito Control Committee (MCC) during World War II, when Australian troops in New Guinea were badly impacted by mosquito-borne malaria.

She was an entomologist who through her career described 38 new mosquito species, as well as new species of fruit flies, bugs, cockroaches and ticks. She had a PhD in insect physiology from the University of Cambridge and was a member of the Royal Entomological Society of London.

She was created an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) in the Queen's Birthday Honours on 11 June 1990 for service to science, particularly in the field of entomology.^[4]

She died aged 84 on 25 October 2002.

Sources

1. ↑ Irish Genealogy. Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, Registrar's Book of Births copy, record 226, District #4, Union of South Dublin, County of Dublin
2. ↑ Marks, Elizabeth Nesta (1918 - 2002) AO, Encyclopedia of Australian Science and Innovation, Centre for Transformative Innovation, Swinburne University of Technology. Accessed 5 October 2022
3. ↑ Archived copy of Pat Marks, Australian Workers Heritage Centre. Archived from the original on 27 February 2016.
4. ↑ "Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) entry for Dr Elizabeth Nesta MARKS". It's an Honour, Australian Honours Database. Canberra, Australia: Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. 11 June 1990. Retrieved 5 October 2022. "for service to science, particularly in the field of entomology"

• Marks, Elizabeth Nesta, (AO) (1918-2002). (2011). In Trove. Retrieved October 5, 2022, from https://nla.gov.au/nla.party-1473717
• Samford Ecological Research Facility, Queensland University of Technology, Legacy of Dr E N Marks

See also

• Wikipedia: Elizabeth Nesta Marks
• Wikidata: Item Q23035502