15 Facts About Ursula Marvin

Ursula Bailey Marvin was an American planetary geologist and author who worked for the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory.

Ursula Marvin won the 1997 Women in Science and Engineering Lifetime Achievement Award.

Ursula Marvin won the 2005 Sue Tyler Friedman Medal, and Antarctica's Marvin Nunatak is named in her honor.

Ursula Marvin asked her geology professor to change majors to geology, but he refused so she added geology, math and physics courses to her schedule.

Ursula Marvin graduated with a bachelor's degree in history from Tufts University in 1943.

Ursula Marvin then attended Harvard University-Radcliffe, earning a master's degree in geology in 1946.

Ursula Marvin was briefly married to Lloyd Chaisson, a dental student at the University of Chicago.

Ursula Marvin then returned to Harvard, to work on her Ph.

Ursula Marvin was appointed to a permanent research staff position at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory in 1961 and received a Ph.

Ursula Marvin authored the 1973 book Continental Drift: Evolution of a Concept and authored over 160 research papers.

Ursula Marvin's publications include analysis of oxidation products of Sputnik 4 to determine mineralogical alteration over exposure time with applications to iron meteorites.

Ursula Marvin was involved with numerous studies of returned samples from both the American and Russian lunar programs, including from the Apollo 12, Apollo 15, Apollo 16 missions, and from Luna 16 and Luna 20.

Ursula Marvin traveled to Antarctica for three of the early ANSMET surveys and analyzed the first lunar meteorite, Allan Hills A81005.

Ursula Marvin was the first woman on the American team that conducted research there.

Ursula Marvin served as a trustee at Tufts University from 1975 to 1985, and was an emerita trustee of the university.