Anne McLaren was a brilliant scientist who is honoured and remembered all over the world. Many people love her quotes and some groups collect funds in her name to promote science education.

She was a strong role model for women in science. She was a feminist, and she was very active in her community as well. She also had a very strong sense of morality and a very good head on her shoulders.

Born in London, Anne Laura Dorinthea McLaren was the daughter of Sir Henry Duncan McLaren, 2nd Baron Aberconway and Christabel Mary Melville MacNaghten. Her family were well-connected in literary and social circles.

Her father was a Liberal MP and businessman who held interests in coal, china clay, shipping and steel. Her mother was a leading London socialite.

As a child, she attended Longstow Hall, a private school in Cambridge where she was taught biology. She later chose to study physiology at University College London (UCL), which her uncle had suggested as an interesting subject.

At UCL, she was tutored by Otto Hutter who described her as a'slight girl with a force of personality' that convinced him she would make a fine physiologist.

For the next few years she and her husband Donald Michie, a distinguished artificial intelligence researcher, worked on embryo transfer experiments at University College London and later at the Royal Veterinary College. The two often spent long hours in the lab together, discussing their latest research and expounding on its implications.