International Women's Day

By Justin Samuel posted 03-08-2013 18:22

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(from Geological Society of America Memoir 155, The Geological Society of America - Life History of a Learned Society by Edwin Eckel, 1982)

Mary Emilee Holmes, a paleontologist, became the first woman Fellow of GSA in 1889. In 1887 she received her Ph.D. degree in paleontology from the geology department of the University of Michigan. Alexander Winchell, father of GSA, was chairman of her committee. University records show that hers was the first Ph.D. degree in geology to be awarded to a woman in America. With a number of other women, she appeared on the program of the World's Congress on Geology held in Chicago, 21-26 August, 1893, during the Columbian Exposition.

Florence Bascom, believed by most to have been the first woman in the United States to be recognized as a professional geologist, received her Ph.D. from Johns Hopkins in 1893 and was elected to GSA Fellowship in 1894, five years after Miss Holmes. She was acclaimed throughout a long and active life as "the dean of women geologists." This deserved reputation came not only for own field and laboratory work at Bryn Mawr and the U.S. Geological Survey on the metamorphic and igneous petrology of the Appalachian region but also because of her ability to instill other women with her own enthusiasm and knowledge. Sever of the most outstanding women geologist of the first half of the 20th Century, Ida Ogilvie, Eleanor Bliss (Knopf), and Anna Jonas (Stose) were among Dr. Bascom's disciples. Her influence on geology was great, not only through her own research but also in producing inspired women students who could compete and surpass many men in what was long considered to a man's world.

Doris M. Curtis was GSA's 103rd President. Her popularity was widespread and she pioneered many new directions for geology, not the least of which was her tenure as GSA President after an unbroken chain of 102 men. Causes dear to Doris were women, public awareness, minorities and education. In partnership with Subaru and in memory of Doris M. Curtis, GSA makes an annual Outstanding Woman in Science Award as a means to encourage women in the geosciences.
http://www.geosociety.org/awards/past.htm#sowisa
For more on the life of Doris M. Curtis, please enjoy this GSA Bulletin transcription of a moving tribute given in her honor by Raymond Price at the 1991 GSA Annual Meeting: http://gsabulletin.gsapubs.org/content/104/3/253.full.pdf+html

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