Florence Bascom
| Florence Bascom | |
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| Born | July 14, 1862 Williamstown, Massachusetts |
| Died | June 18, 1945 (aged 82) Williamstown, Massachusetts |
| Nationality | United States |
| Fields | Geology |
| Institutions | |
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Florence Bascom (July 14, 1862 – June 18, 1945) was the second woman to earn her Ph.D in geology in the United States, and the first woman hired by the United States Geological Survey. Apart from being one of the first females to master in Geology, she was known for her innovative findings in this field. She led the next generation of notable female geologists.
She was born in Williamstown, Massachusetts on July 14, 1862. Her father, John Bascom, was a professor at Williams College, and later President of University of Wisconsin-Madison. Her mother, Emma Curtiss Bascom, was a women's rights activist involved in the suffrage movement. Her parents were steadfast supporters of women's rights and encouraged women to obtain a college education.
Florence Bascom earned a B.A. and a B.Litt. degree in 1882, and a B.S. in 1884 from the University of Wisconsin, and stayed there to obtain her M.S. degree in 1887. During that time women had limited access to educational resources like the library and gymnasium, and also limited access to classrooms if they already had men in them. Her professors at University of Wisconsin, Charles Van Hise and Roland Irving, were part of the USGS. Bascom received her Ph.D at Johns Hopkins University. While studying at Johns Hopkins she was forced to sit behind a screen so as not to disturb the men.
Although she was the second woman to obtain a Ph.D in Geology, she was the first female geologist to present a paper before the Geological Survey of Washington, in 1901. She was also the first woman elected to the Council of the Geological Survey of America (in 1924; no other woman was elected until after 1945). She started her college teaching career in 1884 at the Hampton School of Negroes and American Indians (currently known as Hampton University), working there for a year before going back to university of Wisconsin for her master's. She taught mathematics and science at Rockford College from 1887 to 1889, and later at Ohio State University from 1893 to 1895.
She left Ohio State University to work at Bryn Mawr College where she could conduct original research and teach higher level geology courses. There she founded the Department of Geology, and started a graduate program that trained many of the first women geologists of the 20th century.
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