Women in geology

Women in geology concerns the history and contributions of women to the field of geology. There has been a long history of women in the field, but they have tended to be under-represented. In the era before the eighteenth century, science and geological science had not been as formalized as they would become later. Hence early geologists tended to be informal observers and collectors, whether they were male or female. Notable examples of this period include Hildegard of Bingen who wrote works concerning stones and Barbara Uthmann who supervised her husband's mining operations after his death. Mrs. Uthmann was also a relative of Georg Agricola. In addition to these names varied aristocratic women had scientific collections of rocks or minerals.[1]

In the nineteenth century a new professional class of geologists emerged that included women. In this period the British tended to have far more women of significance to geology.[2]

In 1977 the Association for Women Geoscientists was formed to support women in this field as they remained under-represented. There have been advances since then although retention remains a problem.

Timeline of women in geology

• 1642: Martine Bertereau, first recorded woman mineralogist, was imprisoned in France on suspicion of witchcraft.[3]
• 1824: Emma Hart Willard published Ancient Geography as a supplement to Woodbridge's System of Universal Geography.[4]
• 1833: Mary Austin Holley remarks and publishes on the soils, water resources, minerals, and mountains of the Texas region.[5]
• 1841: Orra White Hitchcock, Sarah Hall, and Mrs. Brooks among first women to illustrate geological publications.[6]
• 1865: Elizabeth Carne was elected the first female Fellow of the Royal Geological Society of Cornwall.[7]
• 1866: Mrs. Myers, Kate Andrews, and Harriet Huntsman's work appear in the Illinois, Ohio, and Kansas survey reports respectively.[6]
• 1889: Mary Emilie Holmes became the first female Fellow of the Geological Society of America.[8]
• 1893: Florence Bascom became the second woman to earn her Ph.D in geology in the United States, and the first woman to receive a Ph.D from Johns Hopkins University.[9][10] Geologists consider her to be the "first woman geologist in this country [America]."[11]
• 1896: Florence Bascom became the first woman to work for the United States Geological Survey.[12][13]
• 1901: Florence Bascom became the first female geologist to present a paper before the Geological Survey of Washington.[14]
• 1909: Alice Wilson became the first female geologist hired by the Geological Survey of Canada.[15][16] She is widely credited as being the first Canadian woman geologist.[17]
• 1919: Women were first allowed to become Fellows of the Geological Society of London.[18][19]
• 1924: Florence Bascom became the first woman elected to the Council of the Geological Society of America.[14]
• 1936: Inge Lehmann discovered that the Earth has a solid inner core distinct from its molten outer core.[20]
• 1938: Alice Wilson became the first woman appointed as Fellow to the Royal Society of Canada.[17]
• 1942: American geologist Marguerite Williams became the first African-American woman to receive a PhD in geology in the United States. She completed her doctorate, entitled A History of Erosion in the Anacostia Drainage Basin, at Catholic University.[21][22]
• 1943: Eileen Guppy was promoted to the rank of assistant geologist, therefore becoming the first female geology graduate appointed to the scientific staff of the British Geological Survey.[23]
• 1955: Moira Dunbar became the first female glaciologist to study sea ice from a Canadian icebreaker ship.[24][25][26]
• 1963: Elsa G. Vilmundardóttir completed her studies at Stockholm University and became the first female Icelandic geologist.[27]
• 1966: Eileen Guppy became the first female staff member of the British Geological Survey to be awarded an MBE.[28]
• 1967: Sue Arnold became the first female British Geological Survey person to go to sea on a research vessel.[23]
• 1969: Beris Cox became the first female paleontologist in the British Geological Survey.[23]
• 1971: Audrey Jackson became the first female field geologist in the British Geological Survey.[23]
• 1975: Female officers of the British Geological Survey no longer had to resign upon getting married.[23]
• 1977: The Association for Women Geoscientists was founded.[29]
• 1980: Geochemist Katsuko Saruhashi became the first woman elected to the Science Council of Japan.[30]
• 1982: Janet Watson became the first woman president of the Geological Society of London.[31]
• 1983: Geologist Sudipta Sengupta (and marine biologist Aditi Pant) became one of the first two Indian women to join an Antarctic expedition.[32]
• 1991: Doris Malkin Curtis became the first woman president of the Geological Society of America.[33]
• 1991: Indian geologist Sudipta Sengupta became the first woman scientist to receive the Shanti Swaroop Bhatnagar Award in the Earth Sciences category.[34][35]
• 1995: Karst in China: its Geomorphology and Environment by Marjorie Sweeting was published; it was the first comprehensive Western account of China's karst.[36][37]
• 1995: Jane Plant became the first female Deputy Director of the British Geological Survey.[23]
• 2010: Marcia McNutt became the first female director of the United States Geological Survey.[38]
• 2014: Maureen Raymo became the first woman to be awarded the Wollaston Medal, the highest award of the Geological Society of London.[39][40]
• 2016: Geophysicist Marcia McNutt became the first woman president of the American National Academy of Sciences.[41]

Notable women geologists

• Claudia Alexander - notable member of the Association for Women Geoscientists
• Florence Bascom - first woman hired by the United States Geological Survey
• Helen Belyea - Canadian geologist
• Mary Anning (1799–1847) - early British paleontologist
• Etheldred Benett - early female geologist in Britain
• Elizabeth Catherine Thomas Carne - early female geologist in Britain
• Margaret Crosfield - early English paleontologist and geologist
• Jane Francis - director of the British Antarctic Survey
• Maria Matilda Ogilvie Gordon (1864 - 1939) - Scottish geologist and paleontologist, 1932 Lyell Medal
• Rhea Graham - director of the US Bureau of Mines[42]
• Robbie Gries - former president of the American Association of Petroleum Geologists[43]
• Dorothy Hill - only female president of the Australian Academy of Science
• Miriam Kastner - distinguished Professor of Earth Sciences at University of California, San Diego, 2008 Maurice Ewing Medal
• Inge Lehmann - Danish seismologist who discovered the Earth's inner core
• Margaret Leinen - American paleoclimatologist, director of Scripps Institution of Oceanography
• Lorraine Lisiecki - American palaeoclimatologist
• Mary Horner Lyell - nineteenth-century British geologist
• Marcia McNutt - American geophysicist, former director of the United States Geological Survey, science adviser to the United States Secretary of the Interior and president and chief executive officer of the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute
• Isabel P. Montañez - Distinguished Professor of Geosciences and Chancellor's Leadership Professor at University of California, Davis, President (2017-2018) of The Geological Society of America
• Marie Morisawa - American geomorphologist
• Helen Morningstar - American geologist, professor in Geology and Paleontology in Ohio State University, member of Phi Beta Kappa, Sigma Xi, the A.A.A.S. and the Paleontological Society of America
• Sharon Mosher - former President, Geological Society of America
• Alexandra Navrotsky - 1973 Alfred P. Sloan Fellowship, 1988 American Geophysical Union Fellow, 1997 Geological Society of America Fellow, 2006 Harry H. Hess Medal
• María Páramo - Colombian geologist and paleontologist
• Maureen Raymo - director of the Lamont-Doherty Core Repository at Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University
• Sudipta Sengupta - professor in structural geology in Jadavpur University, Calcutta
• Ethel Shakespear - English geologist
• Norah Dowell Stearns - American hydrogeologist
• Dawn Sumner - American geologist, planetary scientist, and astrobiologist
• Marjorie Sweeting - lecturer at Oxford University and wrote the first comprehensive Western account of China's karst
• Marie Tharp - A discoverer of the Mid-ocean ridge
• Susan E. Trumbore - member, US National Academy of Sciences, Director, Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry
• Janet Vida Watson - Lyell Medal, Bigsby Medal, and a past President of the Geological Society of London
• Dawn Wright - African-American marine geologist, fellow of American Association for the Advancement of Science, ALVIN diver
• Maria Zuber - E.A. Griswold Professor of Geophysics at Massachusetts Institute of Technology; 2012 Harry H. Hess Medal
• Larissa Anatoljewna Popugajewa - Soviet geologist and discoverer of diamond deposits in the USSR
• Anna Missuna - Russian-born Polish geologist, mineralogist, and paleontologist

See also

• Women in science
• Women in the workforce

References

1. Kölbl-Ebert, M. (September 2001). "On the origin of women geologists by means of social selection: German and British comparison". Episodes. 24 (3): 182–193. doi:10.18814/epiiugs/2001/v24i3/005. Retrieved 11 June 2015.
2. Creese, Mary R. S.; Creese, Thomas M. (5 January 2009). "British women who contributed to research in the geological sciences in the nineteenth century". The British Journal for the History of Science. 27 (1): 23. doi:10.1017/S0007087400031654.
3. Rayner-Canham, Marelene F.; Rayner-Canham, Marelene; Rayner-Canham, Geoffrey (2001). Women in Chemistry: Their Changing Roles from Alchemical Times to the Mid-twentieth Century. Chemical Heritage Foundation. p. 7. ISBN 9780941901277.
4. Willard, Emma, 1787-1870. (1852). Ancient geography : as connected with chronology and preparatory to the study of ancient history. W.J. Hamersley. OCLC 8028952.CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
5. Holley, Mary Austin, 1784-1846. (2005). Texas : observations, historical, geographical and descriptive : in a series of letters, written during a visit to Austin's colony, with a view to a permanent settlement in that country, in the Autumn of 1831. Brown University Women Writers Project. OCLC 176859903.CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
6. Women of science : righting the record. Kass-Simon, G. (Gabriele), Farnes, Patricia, 1931-1985., Nash, Deborah. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. 1990. ISBN 0253332648. OCLC 19130838.CS1 maint: others (link)
7. Hardie-Budden, Melissa. "Elizabeth Catherine Thomas Carne: A 19th century Hypatia". Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
8. Edwin Butt Eckel (1982). The Geological Society of America: Life History of a Learned Society. Geological Society of America. p. 36. ISBN 978-0-8137-1155-3.
9. "Florence Bascom papers, 1883-1938". Dla.library.upenn.edu. Retrieved 2018-07-28.
10. Clary, R.M. "Great expectations: Florence Bascom (1842–1945) and the education of early US women geologists". Geological society of London Publications. Special Publications. Retrieved 10 October 2017.
11. Schneidermann, Jill (July 1997). "A Life of Firsts: Florence Bascom" (PDF). GSA Today. Geological Society of America.
12. "The Stone Lady, Florence Bascom (U.S. National Park Service)". Nps.gov. 1945-06-18. Retrieved 2018-07-28.
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20. Edmond A. Mathez, ed. (2000). EARTH: INSIDE AND OUT. American Museum of Natural History. Archived from the original on 2008-04-30.
21. Williams, Marguerite. "A History of Erosion in the Anacostia Basin". World Cat. Retrieved 8 March 2014.
22. "Women's History Month – Marguerite Thomas Williams". University of the District of Columbia. Retrieved 2018-09-24.
23. Rod Bowie, Records Centre Manager, National Geological Records Centre, British Geological Survey, Keyworth. "Freedom and Equality-Women in Geology". British Geological Survey, Natural Environment Research Council. Retrieved 2018-05-23.CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
24. Hulbe, Christina L. (2010). "Women in glaciology, a historical perspective" (PDF). Journal of Glaciology. 56 (200): 944–964. Bibcode:2010JGlac..56..944H. doi:10.3189/002214311796406202.
25. Thomas, Campbell (2000-01-12). "Moira Dunbar". the Guardian. Retrieved 2018-08-23.
26. "80th Anniversary: Northern Exposure - History - The Royal Canadian Geographical Society". www.rcgs.org. Retrieved 2018-08-23.
27. Jóhannesson, Guðni A. (2008). "Elsa Guðbjörg Vilmundardóttir". www.mbl.is (in Icelandic). Retrieved 2018-10-08.
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30. Hughes, Amani (2018-03-22). "Katsuko Saruhashi honoured by Google: Who is the geochemist celebrated in today's Doodle?". Express.co.uk. Retrieved 2018-08-23.
31. Ogilvie, M.B.; Harvey J.D. (2000). The Biographical Dictionary of Women in Science:L-Z. Taylor & Francis. pp. 1350–1351. ISBN 978-0-415-92040-7. Retrieved 2010-02-13.
32. IANS (2013-12-22). "India's Antarctica station at par with world: Geologist Sudipta Sengupta (Interview)". Business Standard India. Retrieved 2018-08-27.
33. Margaret W. Rossiter (21 February 2012). Women Scientists in America: Forging a New World Since 1972. JHU Press. pp. 249–. ISBN 978-1-4214-0233-8.
34. "Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize: Sudipta Sengupta". ssbprize.gov.in. Retrieved 2018-10-07.
35. "Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Awardees | Women in Science | Initiatives | Indian Academy of Sciences". www.ias.ac.in. Retrieved 2018-10-07.
36. Kennedy, Barbara (18 January 1995). "OBITUARIES: Marjorie Sweeting". The Independent.
37. "Karst in China - Its Geomorphology and Environment | Marjorie M. Sweeting". Springer. Retrieved 2018-08-08.
38. https://www.usgs.gov/staff-profiles/marcia-k-mcnutt?qt-staff_profile_science_products=6#qt-staff_profile_science_products
39. "Climate Scientist Is First Woman to Win Geology's Storied Wollaston Medal". Lamont -Doherty Earth Observatory. March 4, 2014. Retrieved 16 February 2018.
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43. Tait, Mike (2002-02-05). "President of the American Association of Petroleum Geologists to visit Aberdeen University". www.abdn.ac.uk.

• Burek, C. V.; Higgs, B., eds. (2007). The role of women in the history of geology. London: Geological Society. ISBN 9781862392274.

External links

• Association of Women Geoscientists