UNEARTHING THE HISTORY OF WOMEN IN GEOSCIENCES, WITH A TRIBUTE TO MICHELE ALDRICH

The history of an underrepresented group is bound to be characterized by case histories, even anecdotes. There are few scientific fields where women, about 50% of any population, are less historically represented than in geology, particularly at the professional level. When we convene GSA sessions on “Giants of Geology” or “Great Books in Geology” for example, women will not be highlighted. Of the 35 Rock Stars to date published by GSA, the only female “star” is Florence Bascom. Yet the Rock Star series was designed to provide inspiration and role models “aimed at younger geologists and students.”

In 1990, Michele Aldrich published a chapter summarizing the history of women in geology, focused on American history. She traced the stages of women’s roles, from illustrators and collectors to practising geologists and identified challenges they faced. Not till 2007 was an entire book published on the history of women in geology, in this case a series of papers focused on women geologists in Europe, especially the British Isles. This book included some more synthetic studies, particularly by Cynthia V. Burek and Martina Kolbl-Ebert.

In the 21^st century, many resources on the history of women in geosciences have become available online, including a number of focused websites such as Trowelblazers, as well as efforts such as AAPG’s PROWESS group to highlight the history of women in the petroleum field. We encourage you to contribute to digging up the history of women in geosciences.

Aldrich, Michele L., 1990. Women in Geology, in Women of Science: Righting the Record (Indiana Univ. Press), p. 42-71.

Burek, C.V. and Higgs, B., editors, 2007. The Role of Women in the History of Geology. Geological Society of London, 342p.