Minnie Abercrombie (14 November 1909 – 25 November 1984), also known as M. L. J. Abercrombie, was a British zoologist, educationalist and psychologist. She was known for her work on invertebrates and her work in the publishing industry, conducted with her husband, Michael Abercrombie. She also contributed to the theory and practice of education through her teaching, research, lecturing and writing. In particular, she carried out pioneer psychological research into the use of groups in learning with medical, architectural and education students, and she shared with diverse audiences in many countries her extensive knowledge and expertise as a teacher who used the methods and principles of group analytic psychotherapy.
Early life and education
Minnie Louie Johnson was born on 14 November 1909. She attended Waverley Road Secondary School in Birmingham, where she completed the higher school certificate in chemistry, zoology, botany, and history. Influenced by her biology teacher she stayed in education and went to university. She was awarded her B.Sc. (Zoology, First Class) and Ph.D from the University of Birmingham in 1930 and 1932, respectively, for studying respiration control in invertebrates.
Career
In 1932, she was appointed as a lecturer in the Zoology Department at University of Birmingham, and during World War II was promoted to acting head. She married Michael Abercrombie 17 July 1939 and collaborated with him extensively on both scientific and outreach work. In 1947 she moved with her husband to University College, London. Among her work to popularise science was the New Biology journal aimed at young people published by Penguin Books from 1945 until 1960. It was highly popular, selling hundreds of thousands of copies. It was co-edited by Abercrombie, using her name M. L. Johnson, and she also wrote some of the earlier articles. She also collaborated with Michael Abercrombie and C. J. Hickman on the Penguin Dictionary of Biology.
She worked on the selection and pre-clinical training of medical students, based in the Anatomy Department. This prompted her interest in group discussion, perception and reasoning so students learned from their peers as well as teachers, a precursor to problem-based learning later adopted in medical education. She also spent 5 years working at Guy's Hospital on a project about cerebral palsy. Abercrombie then was appointed as Reader in Architectural Education at the Bartlett School in University College and able to take full control of her research and teaching.
After her formal retirement, she continued to work and research on small-group education, first with a grant-funded research project about medical education in the Radiology Department at Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge where she was then living, followed by a project at the Cambridge Institute of Education with a group of primary school headteachers and Cambridge Group Work, a regional branch of the Institute of Group Analysis based in London. She was also involved with the University of the Third Age. As a consequence, she was considered an authority on medical education and continuing education of school teachers. She published several books. She was among the founders of the Group Analytic Society and its president from 1980 - 1983.
Abercrombie was a Visiting Professor at universities in Australia and at McMaster University, Ontario in Canada because of her expertise with small groups.