@isobelwyliehutchison
Isobel Wylie Hutchison (30 May 1889 – 20 February 1982) was a pioneering Scottish Arctic explorer, botanist, filmmaker, poet, and travel writer. Born into a well-off family at Carlowrie Castle in West Lothian, she received a private education before setting out—often solo—on expeditions to Iceland, Greenland, Alaska, and the Aleutian Islands to collect plant specimens for institutions like Kew Gardens and the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh. Her vivid travel books and National Geographic articles chronicled these journeys, and she frequently lectured using her own films, photographs, and sketches. In 1934, she became the first woman awarded the Royal Scottish Geographical Society’s Mungo Park Medal in recognition of her botanical discoveries and “indomitable spirit.” Hutchison’s diaries, papers, and photographic archives now reside in the National Library of Scotland, preserving her legacy as both a scientist and storyteller (Scottish Poetry Library)
