Barbara Wigglesworth Cooksey

On July 29,2016, the scientific community lost a significant participant. Barbara Cooksey spent the majority of her life as a scientist starting in 1954 at the age of 16 working in the Departments of Anatomy and Biochemistry, at the University of Birmingham, England. In 1959, she and her husband emigrated to Canada and then to California in 1960. Through the 60’s, 70’s and early 80’s she worked in the Department of Neurology at UCSF, Shell Research in England, and the Marine Science School at the University of Miami. She spent the last twenty-one years of her career in the Departments of Microbiology and Civil Engineering at MSU after moving to Bozeman in 1982. She retired in 2003.

Some of her note-worthy contributions to science include the discovery of a major flaw in a Shell Chemical development program for a new biological insecticide in the 1960’s which lead to the retirement of the program, discovering that microscopic plants (diatoms) had animal-like abilities to sense and react to chemicals in their environment, and the development of a computer-assisted method for measuring the effectiveness of anti-fouling paints used on ships for the US Navy. Probably her most significant contribution was the development of a method for the determination of the oil content of algae which were to be used in biodiesel production projects. This method is credited by many as being the single most important contribution to the Department of Energy’s biodiesel program.

Barbara achieved all of this as a half time scientist and a full time mother of two boys. She also spent time backpacking with her family, including trips to the Himalayas and the Austrian Alps, was a den mother for her son’s troop in the Boy Scouts of America, made silver jewelry and was an amateur actress. At MSU, she was the ‘go-to’ person for other scientists seeking answers to questions on algal physiology. She is survived by two sons, Keith Timothy and Nicholas, three grandchildren, one great-grandchild and her husband of 57 years, Keith E. Cooksey.