Wednesday Geek Woman: E. Lucy Braun, ecologist and expert on deciduous forests

January 4th, 2012 by Guest Blogger

“The Kenneth Casters of the University of Cincinnati tell about an incident when a micropaleontologist came to lecture in the Geology Department. Because this lecture was after Lucy’s retirement, the newer students in attendance knew nothing of E. Lucy Braun. To them the two white-haired sisters appeared like two characters out of Alice and Wonderland. As the lecture continued, challenging Dr. Braun’s origins of the mixed mesophytic forest, Lucy’s lips grew tighter and tighter. When the speaker sat down she rose to battle and made a ferocious attack upon him which was follwed by a vast silence which filled the room. Finally, the speaker arose and said, “Thank you, Dr. Braun, I wanted to hear your opinion.”

So, the next time someone asks you if you can name a famous woman scientist, you can name Emma Lucy Braun, which is better than 65% of Americans and 66% of UK residents can do. And, because it’s equally important to highlight the accomplishments of current women in science, I’ll leave you with a few women paleoscientists you should know: paleontologist Dr. Liz Hadly at Stanford, paleoecosystem ecologist Dr. Kendra McLauchlan at Kansas State, paleoclimatologist and diatomist Dr. Sheri Fritz at the University of Nebraska Lincoln, paleofire ecologist Dr. Cathy Whitlock at Montana State University, and biogeographer Dr. Felisa Smith at the University of New Mexico.

For more information on Dr. E. Lucy Braun and other women in ecology, check out:

Damschen, Ellen, Kristen Rosenfeld, Mary Wyer, Deena Murphey-Medley, Thomas Wentworth, & Nick Haddad. 2005. Visibility matters: increasing knowledge of women’s contributions to ecology. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment 3 (4): 212-219.

Durelle, Lucile. 1981. Memories of E. Lucy Braun. Ohio Biol. Surv. Biol. Notes No. 15. Stuckey & Reese, Eds.

Langenheim, Jean. 1996. Early history and progress of women ecologists: Emphasis upon recent contributions. Annual Review of Ecology & Systematics 27: 1-53.

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4 comments on this post.

  1. sasha_feather:

    January 4th, 2012 at 9:05 am

    Awesome post Jacquelyn!!

  2. Tony Mechelynck:

    January 4th, 2012 at 11:14 am

    When the speaker sat down she rose to battle and made a ferocious attack upon him which was follwed by a vast silence which filled the room. Finally, the speaker arose and said, “Thank you, Dr. Braun, I wanted to hear your opinion.”

    Oh, that part was fun! Not everyone would have the guts to challenge a visiting professor this way (or the past detailed study of the field to do it without making oneself ridiculous).

  3. Women History by haillierose - Pearltrees:

    January 4th, 2012 at 1:02 pm

    [...] Early history and progress of women ecologists: Emphasis upon recent contributions . Annual Review of Ecology & Systematics 27: 1-53. Wednesday Geek Woman: E. Lucy Braun, ecologist and expert on deciduous forests | Geek Feminism Blog [...]

  4. Selki:

    January 6th, 2012 at 11:18 am

    And here’s a botanist from history: http://www.ouramazingplanet.com/2216-female-explorer-botanist-jeanne-baret-species.html
    “More than two centuries after she disguised herself as a man and set out on a journey that would make her the first woman to circle the globe, pioneering botanist Jeanne Baret is getting some long-deserved recognition.”