49 Facts About Florence Bascom

Florence Bascom was a pioneer American woman geologist and educator.

Shortly after, in 1887, Florence Bascom earned her master's degree in geology at the University of Wisconsin.

Florence Bascom was the second woman to earn her PhD in geology in the United States, in 1893.

Florence Bascom was known for her innovative findings in this field, and led the next generation of female geologists.

Geologists consider Florence Bascom to be the "first woman geologist in America".

Florence Bascom was born in Williamstown, Massachusetts, on July 14,1862.

The youngest of five children, Florence Bascom came from a family who, unlike most at the time, encouraged women's entrance into society.

Florence Bascom's father, John Bascom, was a professor at Williams College, and later president of the University of Wisconsin.

Florence Bascom was the driving factor of her career and her first contact in the field of geology.

Florence Bascom's mother, Emma Curtiss Bascom, was a women's rights activist involved in the suffrage movement.

Florence Bascom's parents were steadfast supporters of women's rights and encouraged women to obtain a college education.

Florence Bascom's father became the president of the University of Wisconsin in 1874.

Florence Bascom had a very close relationship with her father and he played a very influential role in her life.

Florence Bascom's father had struggled with mental illness and would often take his children exploring into the mountains.

Florence Bascom graduated with high grades from Madison High School at the age of 16.

Florence Bascom graduated from the University of Wisconsin with two bachelor's degrees.

Florence Bascom's thesis was on "A Contribution to the Geology of South Mountain, Pennsylvania".

In 1893, Florence Bascom graduated from Johns Hopkins with her PhD, making her the first woman to graduate the university with that degree and the second woman in the United States to earn a PhD in geology.

Florence Bascom then went on to Bryn Mawr College and founded the department of geology in 1895 which led to it becoming one of the best departments in the country.

Florence Bascom was appointed assistant on the US Geological Survey and later was assigned that section of the Piedmont which lies in Maryland, Pennsylvania and part of New Jersey.

In 1899 Florence Bascom went on to teach petrography and by 1906 Florence Bascom became a full professor and had an associate.

Florence Bascom spent many summers mapping the schists and gneisses of that area and studied the thin sections of the rocks both during summer and winter.

Florence Bascom's career consisted of her being an editor of the American Geologist, a member of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Research Council, as well as the Geophysical Union and many other scientific societies.

Florence Bascom had written many short papers, some which were in the field of geomorphology.

Florence Bascom taught at Hampton Institute of Negroes and American Indians, later renamed Hampton University, Rockford College and Ohio State University.

Florence Bascom contributed to a special type of identification for acidic volcanoes.

Florence Bascom argues that South Mountain's rock formations have changed over time, with some rocks originally showing signs of being rhyolite, but now holocrystalline rock.

Florence Bascom presented a second notable new conclusion regarding the cycles of erosion within Pennsylvania; earlier scientific thought was that the Piedmont province of Pennsylvania was made by two to three erosion cycles, while she discovered that there were at least nine cycles.

Florence Bascom found this by compiling a stratigraphic record of Atlantic deposit in the province, listing the depth, unconformities, and different grain sizes.

In 1896, Florence Bascom worked as an assistant for the USGS.

For part of her life as a teacher, Florence Bascom simultaneously worked in the geological survey and her work lead to a multitude of comprehensive reports of geologic folios.

Florence Bascom spent a year learning and researching advanced crystallography in the laboratory of Victor Goldschmidt in Heidelberg before going back to teaching as she did not want to spend time doing "overspecialistic research", that she would not be able to teach to her students in the courses offered.

The formations that took place there had been regarded as sediments previously however, the closer study of it done under microscopes proved them to be altered volcanics and not sediments which Florence Bascom then named "aporhyolites" with the prefix of "apo-".

Florence Bascom's workspace consisted of storage space in a building constructed solely for chemistry and biology.

Over a two-year period, Florence Bascom managed to develop a substantial collection of minerals, fossils, and rocks.

Florence Bascom founded Bryn Mawr's department of geology in 1895 and proceeded to teach and train a generation of young women in this department.

Florence Bascom's students did not just graduate, they often succeeded in important geology careers for themselves.

Florence Bascom was known to set high standards for her students as well as herself.

In 1928, Florence Bascom retired but continued to work at the United States Geological Survey until 1936.

George Huntington Williams : Florence Bascom met George Huntington Williams through her early mentor Irving, and later worked with Williams in field research while she was at Johns Hopkins University.

Florence Bascom began her studies at Hopkins, and was told there was a chance she would not get her degree because she was a woman.

Edward Francis Baxter Orton : Florence Bascom worked with Edward Francis Baxter Orton while she was at Ohio State University.

Florence Bascom left a legacy in part due to her significant scientific discoveries, but partly due to her legacy of training women geologists.

Florence Bascom founded the geology department at Bryn Mawr College and encouraged other women to enter the field of geology.

Florence Bascom trained and mentored Louise Kingsley, Katharine Fowler-Billings, petrologist Anna Jonas Stose, petrologist Eleanora Bliss Knopf, crystallographer Mary Porter, paleontologist Julia Gardner, petroleum geologist Maria Stadnichenko, glacial geomorphologist Ida Ogilvie, Isabel Fothergill Smith, Dorothy Wyckoff, and Anna Heitonen.

Florence Bascom's students went on to become successful scientists, and some were featured in American Men of Science.

Florence Bascom died of a stroke on June 18,1945, at the age of 82.

Florence Bascom is buried in a Williams College cemetery in Williamstown, close to family members.

Florence Bascom published over 40 articles on genetic petrography, geomorphology, and gravel.