Elizabeth F. Fisher

Elizabeth Florette Fisher (November 26, 1873 – April 25, 1941) was one of the first field geologists in the United States. Born in Boston, Massachusetts, she attended and later taught at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).[1] She was also the first woman to be sent out by an oil company for a survey, helping to locate oil wells in North-Central Texas during a nationwide oil shortage.[2] During this same time, she not only continued her career as an instructor at Wellesley College, but also wrote an influential textbook for junior high students called Resources and Industries of the United States. She stressed the need for conservation, and believed "unclaimed" land should be used for agriculture. She was a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the American Geographical Society, and also was a member of the Appalachian Mountain Club and the Boston Society of Natural History. She died in 1941 from illness.[3]

Currently, at Wellesley College, there is a scholarship in her name for women graduates of this institution who are planning on further study.[4]

References

  1. ↑ Shrock, Robert Rakes (1982). "Elizabeth Florette Fisher". Geology at MIT 1865-1965: A History of the First Hundred Years of Geology at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Cambridge [etc.]: MIT Press. pp. 400–401. ISBN 978-0-262-19211-8.
  2. ↑ "Fisher, Elizabeth Florette". Biographical Dictionary of Women in Science. Routledge. 2000. p. 910. ISBN 978-1-135-96343-9.
  3. ↑ Oakes, Elizabeth (2002). International Encyclopedia of Women Scientists. 132 West 31st Street New York NY 10001: Facts on File, Inc. p. 116. ISBN 0-8160-4381-7.
  4. ↑ "Professor Elizabeth F. Fisher Fellowship". collegeXpress.

Further reading

  • Elder, Eleanor S. "Women in Early Geology." Journal of Geological Education 30, no. 5 (1982):287–293
  • "Miss Elizabeth F Fisher." The New York Times, May 3, 1941.
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