In her time at the University of Wisconsin, she obtained two degrees: a Bachelor of Arts and, later, a Bachelor of Science. Given her mother’s feminism, her father’s scholarship, and her aptitude for natural science, it would seem that Bascom’s fate was sealed. Here Bascom had frontline access to nature and local geology.
While a thriving educator, John suffered from mental illness, and, to combat it, would take his children on trips to the mountains with a colleague, Edward Orton, a professor of geology at Ohio State University. John Bascom was a rhetoric professor at Williams College, though he allegedly held many degrees in various fields. While her mother was pivotal in Bascom’s eventual decision to further her academic career through higher education, the influence of her father helped her realize her love of geology. Her mother, Emma Curtiss Bascom, was a schoolteacher and staunch advocate for women’s rights, and was heavily involved in the women’s suffrage movement. Her constant fight to be seen as a worthy member of her community paved the way for better representation of women in the field today.īascom was born in Massachusetts in 1862, the youngest of five children. She excelled in her career, mentored female students in the geosciences, and held high-ranking positions in various geology professional societies.
She realized from a young age her love for the natural world, and with support from her parents, became the first woman to be awarded a Ph.D. This statistic is shocking, and illustrates a very clear issue with the geoscience workforce an issue that Florence Bascom was interested in solving.īascom was an American geologist known for her groundbreaking research and championing of women’s rights in the discipline. A survey by The American Geosciences Institute states that only 25% of working geoscientists identify as women.
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