Dr Kathleen Mary Drew-Baker
- Born
- 6 September 1901
- Died
- 15 September 1957 (age 56)
Kathleen Drew-Baker was a truly remarkable scientist and her work on edible seaweed helped to establish the Japanese ‘nori’ industry. She is celebrated in Japan, but relatively unknown in the UK.
Dr Drew-Baker was an excellent student and won a county major scholarship to study botany at Manchester University. After graduating with first-class honours in 1922, one of the first women to do so, she began to research the biology of seaweed. Although she spent two years at Berkeley College, she spent the majority of her career at Manchester and met her husband, Dr Henry Wright Baker at the University.
At this time, the University did not allow married women to teach, so Dr Drew-Baker’s employment was terminated. Through an Ashburne Hall Residents Fellowship she was able to become an Honorary Research Fellow, though this position was unpaid. She therefore worked closely with her husband, who supported her work and built her a tidal tank in the laboratory to assist with her research.
Dr Drew-Baker studied the edible seaweed Porphyria umbilicalis, commonly used in soups and laver bread. As a close relative of nori, both seaweeds grow in the same way. When Dr Drew Baker’s research on the life history of Porphyria umbilicalis was published in Nature in 1949, Japanese scientists were able to build on her work and develop artificial seeding techniques. The new techniques enabled nori to be grown as a farm crop and led to greater control over harvests. As a consequence, nori farming is a very lucrative business in Japan today. In 1963 a memorial was erected to Drew-Baker in Tokyo. Each year on 14 April, people involved in the laver farming industry gather at Sumiyoshi Shrine Park to celebrate the Drew Festival, which refers to Dr Drew-Baker as ‘the mother of the sea’.
Dr Drew-Baker was elected the first President of the British Phycological Society in January 1953. In September 1957, Dr Kathleen Drew-Baker died of cancer in Manchester.