20 Facts About Lucy Cranwell

Lucy Cranwell grew up in Henderson, on an orchard at the conjunction of the Opanuku and Oratia streams.

Lucy Cranwell was strongly influenced by her conservation-minded and artistic mother.

Lucy Cranwell's father was a trained nurseryman who had planted an extensive orchard in the family property.

Lucy Cranwell attended Henderson public school, and attended Epsom Girls Grammar School from 1921 to 1923.

Lucy Cranwell entered the University of Auckland in 1925 where she undertook an initial BA degree that was a mixture of English and Botany, followed by a masters in Botany with a thesis on the epiphytes of the Waitakere Ranges.

Lucy Cranwell undertook a study of marine algae of New Zealand's northern islands, surveys of Auckland Harbour and its west coast between Muriwai and Piha, as well as several trips to take fossil pollen samples from South Island bogs.

In 1940, Lucy Cranwell published The Botany of Auckland, the first definitive work of flora in the Auckland Region.

Lucy Cranwell's work analysing pollen taken from the sediment in bogs revealed the past botanical assemblages in New Zealand and aided an understanding of New Zealand's past as part of the supercontinent of Gondawana.

In 1937, Lucy Cranwell became a founding member of the Auckland Botanical Society.

Lucy Cranwell recommended to the Ministry of Works that wattle trees, pampas grass and nasturtiums should be planted across New Zealand as emergency rations and stock feed.

On 30 September 1943, Lucy Cranwell married Captain Samuel Watson Smith of the United States 13th Air Force, a lawyer and later eminent researcher in archaeology, at St Andrew's First Presbyterian Church.

In February 1944, Lucy Cranwell resigned from the Auckland War Memorial Museum, and moved to Orlando, Florida with her husband.

The family moved to Tucson, Arizona in 1950, where Lucy Cranwell became a Research Affiliate in palynology at the University of Arizona.

Lucy Cranwell earned international recognition for her work in this field, particularly on Gondwanan plant microfossils.

Lucy Cranwell held this position for the rest of her life.

Lucy Cranwell was awarded the Hector Medal from the Royal Society of New Zealand in 1954, the first woman ever to receive this honour, and in 1973 became one of the first patrons of the Waitakere Ranges Protection Society.

Lucy May Cranwell Smith was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand in 1944, and was the second woman to receive this award.

In 1992, Lucy Cranwell was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Science by the University of Auckland, and in 1999 became a Fellow of Auckland War Memorial Museum.

In 2017, Lucy Cranwell was selected as one of the Royal Society Te Aparangi's "150 women in 150 words", celebrating the contributions of women to knowledge in New Zealand.

The New Zealand Association of Scientists Lucy Cranwell Medal is awarded to a practising scientist for excellence in communicating science to the general public in any area of science or technology.