THE REAL HOUSEWIVES OF GEOLOGY

Any good geologist will be able to identify giants of the craft like Buckland, Murchison, and Lyell. Their names are synonymous with transforming geology from an activity of the landed gentry to a professional science alongside biology and physics. But how many geologists can identify Mary, Charlotte, or Mary? That is Mary Buckland, Charlotte Murchison, and Mary Lyell? They are the real housewives of geology. They were extraordinary women who along with their famous spouses participated in geological field trips, hunted for fossils, sketched geological formations, and became experts in various fossil species. Yet history has overlooked their contributions to geology, and relegated them to the proverbial phrase “behind every good man there is a good woman”.

Women in the nineteenth-century were discouraged from participating in scientific pursuits. In fact, some believed that to do so would result in loss of femininity all together and make the female masculine. Buckland, Murchison, and Lyell found ways to work within the English social system and pursue science simultaneously. Our culture as well has a tendency to down play, and even hold in low esteem, the role of housewife. Mary, Charlotte, and Mary turned “housewife” into their advantage by using the position to serve as collaborators and participants in geological networks. This paper will attempt to demonstrate that it was because of their role as geology wives that they were able to actively participate in nineteenth-century science. To accomplish this goal, this paper will examine the ways in which these ladies participated in geology and it will outline their contributions.