In a nutshell
Combining meticulous scientific rigour with her filmstar-good looks, Gwendolen Rees was an expert in parasitology - the study of the life-cycle of one organism that lives on or in another organism.

Track Record
She studied zoology, specialising in liverfluke in sheep. Thorough and orderly in everything she did, she had a long research career, publishing 68 original papers in top journals.

She was the first Welsh woman to be made a Fellow of the Royal Society. She was also described as a glamorous lady, often featured between the covers of Vogue.

The Science
People sometimes use the word parasite as an insult, meaning sponger. In plants and animals, parasites' life-cycles are more complicated. We can learn a lot about teamwork and give-and-take from studying what seem to be useless spongers.