“I have always claimed there was no merit in being the only one of a kind. It was in that capacity that she traveled to the area of Maine we now know as Acadia National Park, where she was the first professional female geologist to survey Mount Desert Island. In a time when most female geologists focused on analysis and drafting charts, Bascom was determined to perform fieldwork, and in 1896, she became the first woman to work for the U.S. She was forced to sit behind a screen in a corner during classes so she wouldn’t distract her male classmates. She was the first woman to earn a doctorate from the university, despite the college president’s adamant opposition to co-education. Geological Surveyįlorence Bascom, circa 1900 camera icon Camera Craft Studios, Minneapolisįlorence Bascom’s 1893 graduation from Johns Hopkins University made national newspapers. Florence Bascom, 1862-1945 First woman to work for the U.S. … I don’t think there’s any place in the world where a woman can’t venture.”Ģ. “In all my travels I’ve never been attacked by a wild animal, lost my way or caught a disease. Rangers had to transport her three-foot-high stack of pressed samples via dog teams to the nearest town. During the summer of 1928, she was the first botanist at Denali National Park, where she conducted the first significant survey of its plants, collecting 6,100 specimens. Mexía traveled widely for the rest of her life, collecting 145,000 plant specimens over two decades and discovering 500 new species, 60 of which are named for her. She explored 3,000 miles of the Amazon River in two and a half years, shocking people along the way who had never seen a woman do this kind of work before, let alone on her own. She became the first Mexican American woman working professionally as a botanist and began traveling on specimen collection expeditions, first with groups of fellow scholars, then on her own, after realizing she could cover more ground solo. See more ›Īt the age of 51, she enrolled in science and natural history courses at the University of California, Berkeley, and uncovered a passion and talent for botany. These 10 National Parks Wouldn’t Exist Without Womenįrom Joshua Tree to Great Sand Dunes, these 10 special places are protected today thanks to their female champions.
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