Audrey Ursula Smith (21 May 1915 – 3 June 1981) was a British cryobiologist, who discovered the use of glycerol to protect human red blood cells during freezing.
She worked initially with Sir Alan Parkes and Christopher Polge, with the goal of developing a viable technique for the cryopreservation of animal semen.
[2] In 1969, Smith was a joint winner with Polge and Parkes of the John Scott Award of the city of Philadelphia for their method of low temperature preservation of living cells and tissues.
[6] According to her obituary in The New York Times, "her work in the development of techniques to protect frozen sperm cells from bulls has been credited with contributing to major advances in cattle breeding and animal husbandry".
Ursula is excavating a 5 kilometre section of tunnel between Kirtling Street in Battersea and Chambers Wharf in Hammersmith.