Nancy Atkinson a world leader in bacteriology at Adelaide University; also produces vaccine, penicillin, poliovirus

Nancy Atkinson, probably at Adelaide's Institute of Medical and Veterinary Science with research assistant Martin Hansen, in about 1939. Atkinson's speciality was the study of salmonella bacteria, including one she found and named S. adelaide

Nancy Atkinson’s work at South Australia’s Institute of Medical and Veterinary Science and at Adelaide University from the 1930s made her one of the world's leading authorities on bacteriology, leading research on salmonella bacteria, developing antibiotics and a vaccine, and isolating the poliovirus.

Educated at Melbourne University (with a master of science in 1932) and a research scholar and demonstrator in the university’s bacteriology department, Atkinson moved in 1937 to the South Australian government laboratory of pathology and bacteriology, incorporated into the Institute of Medical and Veterinary Science (IMVS) in 1938.

Atkinson's early work at the IMVS involved developing, producing and administering the BCG vaccine to combat tubercolosis, encouraged by Darcy Cowan at Adelaide Hospital.

While still working part time at the IMVS, in 1939, Atkinson was appointed lecturer in bacteriology at Adelaide University, becoming lecturer in charge in 1942. Atkinson and her team at the institute made the first batch of penicillin in Australia and, from 18 months’ work, produced enough of the antibiotic to cover a threepenny piece.

Also in 1943, Atkinson developed penidin, an antibiotic proposed to be used as an alternative to penicillin but reclassified in the 1960s as a mycotoxin. She also regularly put out calls for samples of Australian flora such as the Geraldton wax and native fungi, to see if they could be used to develop anti-bacterial substances.

Atkinson specialised in the study of salmonella bacteria. She started and ran the salmonella reference laboratory (later the national Australian salmonella reference centre/ laboratory) and published extensively on the subject. She found a new strain of the bacteria, and named it S. adelaide.

Atkinson became Adelaide University’s reader in charge of bacteriology in 1952 when she became fulltime at the university that awarded her a doctor of science degree in 1957 for her work on antibiotics and salmonellas. Atkinson in 1960 was appointed reader in industrial microbiology and in 1967 moved to the department of oral biology as reader in oral microbiology. She was president of the Australian Society for Microbiology 1962-64.

Atkinson's second marriage was to architect Andrew Benko and they founded and ran the Chalk Hill winery in McLaren Vale region. As Nancy Benko, she wrote two books on Australian art—Art and Artists of South Australia and The Art of David Boyd—as well as work on Gustav Barnes for the Australian Dictionary of Biography.