Margaret Georgina Todd (23 April 1859 – 3 September 1918) was a Scottish medical doctor and writer. She coined the term isotope in 1913 in a suggestion to chemist Frederick Soddy.
Early life and education
Todd was born in Kilrenny, Fife, Scotland, the daughter of James Cameron Todd and Jeannie McBain of Glasgow. She was educated in Edinburgh, Glasgow and Berlin.
Her brother was James Cameron Todd a British Anglican canon and schoolmaster, who founded Michaelhouse school in South Africa.
A Glaswegian schoolteacher, in 1886, Todd became one of the first students at the Edinburgh School of Medicine for Women after hearing that the Scottish Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons had opened their exams to women. She took eight years to complete the four-year course because, using the pseudonym Graham Travers, during her studies she wrote a novel, Mona Maclean, Medical Student.
This was described by Punch magazine as "a novel with a purpose – no recommendation for a novel, more especially when the purpose selected is that of demonstrating the indispensability of women-doctors". After graduating in 1894, she took her MD in Brussels.
Career
She was appointed Assistant Medical Officer at Edinburgh Hospital and Dispensary for Women and Children, but retired after five years.
Her first book was well received. She later published Fellow Travellers and Kirsty O' The Mill Toun in 1896, followed by Windyhaugh in 1898, always using her male pen name, although her real identity was known by then and mentioned in reviews of her books. By 1906, even her publishers added "Margaret Todd, M.D." in parentheses after her pseudonym. In addition to six novels, she wrote short stories for magazines.
