during world war ii, brown was a lecturer at girton in between stints of farmwork as a land girl. she continued to teach at girton and the university of cambridge until 1950 when she was a visiting scientist at the east african fisheries research organization in jinja, uganda for a year. upon her return home, brown became a lecturer in zoology at kings college, london until her marriage in 1955. she published the seminal "physiology of fishes" that created the field of ecophysiology in 1957. two years later she was appointed lecturer in zoology at st hilda's college, oxford and became a tutor in 1961. brown became a senior lecturer at the open university in 1969 and was promoted to reader in 1969. she was a member of the linnean society and served as their vice-president in 1982. the cichlid "haplochromis brownae" is thought to be named in her honour.