Margaret Hotchkiss

Hotchkiss grew up in Brooklyn, New York, and graduated from Packer Collegiate Institute and Vassar College.[1] In 1922, Hotchkiss earned a Ph.D. from Yale University.[2] Hotchkiss worked at New York Medical College for seventeen years.[1][3] She also worked at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution as a visiting researcher, and was a bacteriologist at the New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station, and the Department of Health in Paterson, New Jersey.[3] In 1945 Hotchkiss joined the faculty at the University of Kentucky,[3] where she was promoted to associate professor in 1946.[4] She later became the head of the mycology department at the University of Kentucky,[5] and was named a distinguished professor in 1962.[1][6] Hotchkiss also served as the head of Sigma Xi,[1][6] and the head of the Kentucky-Tennessee branch of the Society of American Bacteriologists.[7][8] In 1964, Hotchkiss retired from teaching but continued conducting research.[9][10]

For her Ph.D., Hotchkiss investigated the positive and negative effects of cations on bacterial growth.[11] She then worked with Selman Waksman to assess whether bacteria in sea water could grow[12] and differences in data obtained from visual examination of bacteria compared to growth of bacteria on agar plates.[13] Her marine research included investigations into the nitrogen cycle mediated by bacteria in seawater,[14] and in 1946 she continued her interest in seawater bacteria when she reviewed Claude ZoBell's Marine Microbiology book.[15] Her subsequent research examined hexosidases in Escherichia coli,[16] and the bacterial community in Imhoff tanks[17] that are used for processing sewage.[18] Having become interested in fungi that cause disease while working in New York,[8] she later published on the bacteria found in the human mouth,[19] and biomedical research on histoplasmosis[20] and Nocardia.[21] After retiring from teaching, she focused on using a precision microtome to slice through bacterial cells[8] and investigated the internal structure of bacteria.[22][23]

• Hotchkiss, Margaret (March 1923). "Studies on Salt Action Vi. The Stimulating and Inhibitive Effect of Certain Cations Upon Bacterial Growth". Journal of Bacteriology. 8 (2): 141–162. doi:10.1128/jb.8.2.141-162.1923. PMC 379008. PMID 16558991.
• Waksman, Selman A.; Hotchkiss, Margaret; Carey, Cornelia L. (1 October 1933). "Marine bacteria and their role in the cycle of life in the sea: II. bacteria concerned in the cycle of nitrogen in the sea". The Biological Bulletin. 65 (2): 137–167. doi:10.2307/1537170. ISSN 0006-3185. JSTOR 1537170.
• Waksman, Selman A.; Reuszer, H. W.; Carey, Cornelia L.; Hotchkiss, Margaret; Renn, C. E. (1933). "Studies on the Biology and Chemistry of the Gulf of Maine. III. Bacteriological Investigations of the Sea Water and Marine Bottoms". Biological Bulletin. 64 (2): 183–205. doi:10.2307/1537228. ISSN 0006-3185. JSTOR 1537228.
• Waksman, Selman A.; Hotchkiss, Margaret (1937). "On the oxidation of organic matter in marine sediments by bacteria". Journal of Marine Research. 78 (3): 151–166. doi:10.1357/002224020834162176. S2CID 240184203.
• Young, Barbara Burns; Hotchkiss, Margaret (1959-11-01). "Developmental morphology in the genus Nocardia". Mycopathologia et Mycologia Applicata. 11 (4): 297–310. doi:10.1007/BF02089505. ISSN 1573-0832. PMID 13846606. S2CID 2900587.

In 1957, Hotchkiss was a elected a charter fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology.[24] In 1959, she was named to Who's Who to honor her contribution to education.[25] The University of Kentucky named her as the 1962-1963 distinguished professor.[26] She was elected a fellow of the New York Academy of Sciences.[9]