January 20, 1999
All were 19th century British or American women scientists. All published at least one research paper before Jan. 1, 1901. Brief biographies of about 650 such scientists appear in a survey titled "Ladies in the Laboratory? American and British Women in Science, 1800-1900," published last year by Scarecrow Press, London.
Author Mary Creese wrote the book as an associate of the University of Kansas Hall Center for the Humanities. Spouse Tom, in the KU math department, assisted.
The top three professional choices for 19th century women determined to be scientists were botany, entomology and zoology. Botany led the pack.
"It was considered an acceptable occupation for ladies," Creese said. "They could go out and find flowers, study them and make notes."
One Alice Eastwood was curator of botany at the California Academy of Sciences for 56 years. During the San Francisco earthquake, she saved many specimens from destruction by fire.
Much of the tedious, indoor work of identifying and classifying biological specimens and fossils fell to women, Creese says. But a few women chose fieldwork.
Scotland's Maria Ogilvie-Gordon explored a portion of the Alps and theorized about crust movements that led to mountain formation there. A world away, Luella Owen was using ropes and candles to plumb Missouri caves. To spare her father anxiety, Creese notes, Owen waited until he died to take up spelunking.
Fewer than 2 percent of the papers Creese identified were about psychology. Among those were the works of June Downey, for 25 years the head of the Department of Philosophy and Psychology at the University of Wyoming. Downey was internationally renowned for studies of the relationship of handwriting and handedness to personality.
One of Creese's personal favorites is zoologist Julia Platt. She theorized about the embryonic development of some animals, particularly the mud puppy.
Platt published about a dozen papers in German journals, but no U.S. university would hire her. Creese says, "She was a brusque person, not a sweet little girl. But her ideas were correct."
Platt left zoology and settled in Pacific Grove, Calif., where, at age 74, she was elected mayor.
Before that she became much involved in the planting of trees and shrubs in the community, Creese says. She was often seen pushing a wheelbarrow full of plants and garden tools through the streets on her way to work sites.
In fact, she once removed by force a gate barring access to what had traditionally been public right of way. Then the gate was padlocked, but she broke the lock. Finally, after it was nailed shut, she smashed it open with an axe, having invited a press photographer to record the moment. From then on, the gate stayed open.
Having been denied passage elsewhere in her life, Platt must have enjoyed that.
Story by Roger Martin