Turner, Abby H. (Abby Howe), 1875-1957

Abby (sometimes spelled Abbie) Howe Turner was born on February 21, 1875 in Nashua, New Hampshire. She was the daughter of George Turner and Emeline Cogswell Turner. She entered Mount Holyoke Seminary and College in 1892 and received her B.A. in 1896. For many years she alternated between pursuing graduate studies and working as a laboratory assistant or teacher of zoology and physiology. Turner spent a year at the University of Pennsylvania where she studied zoology, botany, and chemistry in 1899-1900. In 1901-1902 she studied zoology, botany, and physiology at the University of Chicago. From 1909-1911 she was registered at Radcliffe College and studied at Harvard Medical School. She received her Ph.D. from Radcliffe in 1926. Turner spent most of her career from 1896-1940 at Mount Holyoke as a laboratory assistant or teacher. She established the Department of Physiology at Mount Holyoke and became Department Chair in 1922. In 1902-1903 she taught zoology at Wellesley College. Turner retired from Mount Holyoke College in 1940 and acted as head of the Physiology Department at Wilson College in 1943-1944. Her research often focused on colloid osmotic pressure and circulatory reactions to gravity. She also conducted extensive studies on the physiology of Mount Holyoke College students. She died on November 26, 1957 in South Hadley, Massachusetts at the age of eighty-two.

From the guide to the Turner papers MS 0776., ca. 1896-1960., (Mount Holyoke College Archives and Special Collections)