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Florence Bascom (1862)close

Born in Williamstown, Massachusetts, Florence was the youngest of six children of a schoolteacher/women's suffragist and a professor at Williams College. She is best known as one of the first woman geologists in the US. She was the second woman to receive a PhD in geology in the US, and the first woman hired by the US Geological Survey. In 1889, while studying at Johns Hopkins University, she was required to sit behind a screen in classrooms so she would not "disrupt" the attention of the male students. She was also the first woman to present a paper before the Geological Society of Washington. After the joined the faculty at Bryn Mawr College, she founded the college's geology department and went on to train many of the most accomplished woman geologists of the 20th century.

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Looking for a famous American?

This page presents short biographies of more than 200 famous Americans drawn from our unit, "The 50 States." These personalities are arranged by theme.

Just click a theme at the top of the page to view a selection list for that theme.