SAMS mourns the passing away of Dr Margaret Barnes on 30 October 2009 after an accident in her garden in Oban.

Margaret was a member of the SMBA/SAMS community for over 60 years, joining in 1946 back in the Millport days. She was never employed by the organisation yet made a huge contribution both to the Association and to the wider scientific community. She was an honorary research fellow at SAMS until 2002.

Her scientific research with her husband Harold, on the biology and ecology of many species of barnacles, was world renowned. Together they founded Oceanography and Marine Biology, an Annual Review and JEMBE (Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology). They were also founders of the European Marine Biology Symposia (EMBS) and Margaret was a regular attender over the years, building up a huge network of scientific colleagues. When Harold died in 1978, Margaret took over all his editorial work and became President of the EMBS for some years. Two of these prestigious Symposia were held in Oban

In the early years, Margaret rubbed shoulders with some of the famous names in Marine Biology – C.M. Yonge, Alister Hardy, Freddy Russell, Sheina Marshall, A.P.Orr and J.D. Robertson to quote a few. In later years she was made a FRSE and, with her ever increasing circle of scientific contacts, was an ambassador for the Association, and for Scotland.

For many years, Margaret was the only role model that women in science had and she took it upon herself to give a great deal of encouragement. She also took a personal interest in students and visiting workers, particularly from overseas. She was welcoming and hospitable and invited them into her home for a meal. She even checked the hostel each Christmas to make sure that anyone spending Christmas away from home was welcomed into hers.

For someone with such world-wide fame, Margaret had a low profile and was a modest and charming person.