What is Marie Stopes?
[[File:Marie Stopes in her laboratory, 1904 - Restoration.jpg|thumb|right|250px|Marie Stopes in 1904]] [[File:MarieStopesBluePlaque.JPG|thumbnail|right|210px|[[Blue plaque]] commemorating Marie Stopes at the [[University of Manchester]]]] [[File:Married Love Cover.jpg|thumb|right|upright|Cover of Marie Stopes's bestseller, ''Married Love'']] '''Marie Carmichael Stopes''' ([[Edinburgh]], 15 October 1880 – [[Dorking]], 2 October 1958) was a [[British people|British]] [[Palaeobotany|palaeobotanist]], [[author]] and [[campaign]]er for [[birth control]]. Stopes' newsletter ''Birth Control News'', her book ''[[Married Love]]'', and her organisation [[Marie Stopes International]],<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://mariestopes.org/Countries_we_work_in/Countries.aspx |title=Marie Stopes International |access-date=2011-08-08 |archive-date=2010-12-18 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101218035451/http://mariestopes.org/Countries_we_work_in/Countries.aspx |url-status=dead }}</ref> were hugely important in Britain and throughout the [[British Empire]]. She was the founder of British [[family planning]], and fought many battles in print with those whose opinions differed from hers. == Education == Stopes was one of the most highly educated women of her time. Her parents, who were both well educated, kept her away from school until she was twelve.<ref name=Eaton>Eaton, Peter and Warnick Marilyn 1977. ''Marie Stopes: a checklist of her writings''. Croom Helm, London; Introduction.</ref> She went to [[University College London]] in 1900, and graduated in 1902 with double honours in Botany and Geology. She was awarded a year's scholarship for research. Stopes next went to the University of [[Munich]], where she got a [[PhD]] in palaeobotany (fossil plants). She took the ''viva voce'' in German.<ref name=Eaton/><ref>''Viva voce'' was the questioning of the candidate about her thesis.</ref> In 1905 she became DSc (Doctor of Science) of the University of London.<ref>Traditionally, the doctorates are the highest degrees awarded