Anna Macleod

Anna MacGillivray Macleod (15 May 1917 – 13 August 2004) was a Scottish biochemist and academic, an authority on brewing and distilling. She was a professor at Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh. She was the world's first female Professor of Brewing and Biochemistry. Family Born in Kirkhill, she was the daughter of Margaret Ingram Sangster and Rev. Alasdair MacGillivray Macleod. Her family lineage traces to the Isle of Lewis, where her grandfather, Rev. George Macleod, was the Minister of Garrabost. Her father was also born on the Isle of Lewis. She was second cousin to politician and former Chancellor of the Exchequer, Iain Norman Macleod. Her family belongs to the branch of the Macleods of Pabbay and Uig. Her father, Rev. Alasdair MacGillivray Macleod, was a Minister of the Church, died at an early age. He and her mother, Margaret Ingram Sangster were both in 1914 graduates of Aberdeen University. Her two brothers were both doctors of medicine: her elder brother was Dr. John George Macleod, editor of Davidson's Textbook of Medicine and the author of [[Macleod's Clinical Examination]], and her younger brother was Dr. Alasdair MacGillivray Macleod, a general practitioner in Linlithgow.She showed an interest in her family's genealogy, research on which she had started. Education and profession Macleod was educated at Invergordon Academy and Edinburgh Ladies' College. In 1939 she graduated from University of Edinburgh with a BSc with honours in botany. She joined the faculty of Heriot-Watt University in 1945, where she remained until her retirement in 1977. She returned in 1951 to the University of Edinburgh to study for her PhD. In the late 1960s, she was awarded a Doctor of Science, from the university, for a thesis on the germination of barley.