Bascom, F. (Florence), 1862-1945

Florence Bascom, Heidelberg, 1907

Florence Bascom was born in Williamstown, Massachusetts in 1862. She received both her B.S. (1882) and A.M. (1887) from the University of Wisconsin, where her father, John Bascom, was president. In 1893 she became the first woman to receive a Ph.D. from Johns Hopkins University and the first woman to receive a Ph.D. in geology. She taught at Rockford College and Ohio State University before teaching her first geology course at Bryn Mawr in 1895 as a reader in geology, and was a Professor of Geology from 1906 to 1928. Bascom introduced the undergraduate major in geology at Bryn Mawr, and eventually made it a graduate program of national reputation. Bascom was the first woman elected to the U.S. Geological Survey, for the mid-Atlantic Piedmont area. She was associate editor of American Geologist from 1896 to 1905 and was also the first woman elected as a Fellow of the Geological Society of America in 1894, and in 1930, she was named vice-president. Florence Bascom died in 1945.

For a more detailed biography, see Notable American Women, 1607-1950; a biographical dictionary . Edited by Edward T. James and Janet Wilson James (Cambridge, Mass., Belknap Press, 1971).

Geologist, professor.

Florence Bascom was born in Williamstown, Massachusetts in 1862. She received both her B.S. (1882) and A.M. (1887) from the University of Wisconsin, where her father, John Bascom, was president. In 1893 she became the first woman to receive a Ph. D. from Johns Hopkins University and the first woman to receive a Ph. D. in geology. She taught at Rockford College and Ohio State University before teaching her first geology course at Bryn Mawr in 1895 as a reader in geology, and was a Professor of Geology from 1906 to 1928. Bascom introduced the undergraduate major in geology at Bryn Mawr, and eventually made it a graduate program of national reputation. Bascom was the first woman elected to the U.S. Geological Survey, for the mid-Atlantic Piedmont area. She was associate editor of American Geologist from 1896 to 1905 and was also the first woman elected as a Fellow of the Geological Society of America in 1894, and in 1930, she was named vice-president. Florence Bascom died in 1945.

Florence Bascom (1862-1945) was a noted American geologist, specializing in petrography. She attended the University of Wisconsin, receiving her BA degree in 1882 and her MA degree in 1884, and was the first woman to be granted a PhD from Johns Hopkins University in 1893. From 1895 to 1928, Bascom taught at Bryn Mawr College, where she established the Geology Department. In 1896, she became the first woman appointed to the United States Geological Survey.

Bascom was born in 1862 in Williamstown, Massachusetts, where her father, John Bascom, was a professor at Williams College. The family moved to Madison, Wisconsin, when John Bascom became the president of the University of Wisconsin. Florence Bascom studied geology at the University of Wisconsin, earning her BA in 1882 and her MA in 1884. She taught briefly at Rockford College in Illinois, before heading to Baltimore to study geology at Johns Hopkins University. In 1893, Bascom became the first women to earn a PhD from that university. Following her studies at Johns Hopkins, from 1893 to 1895, she taught at Ohio State University.

In 1895, Bascom began her tenure as geology professor at Bryn Mawr College. Her initial courses proved so popular that, under Bascom’s direction, the Geology Department and geology major were almost immediately instituted. Both the major and the department were demoted to elective status briefly, when the president of Bryn Mawr, M. Carey Thomas, deemed them unnecessary. As a result Bascom resigned, returning only after the department and major were reinstated. Bascom became a full professor in 1906 and continued to teach and conduct research at Bryn Mawr until 1928.

Bascom was the first woman to be appointed to the United States Geological Survey in 1896. Coming on at first as an assistant, she was later promoted to Geologist and assigned the part of the Piedmont Plateau that fell in Maryland, Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Her research culminated in the United States Geological Survey Folios, Philadelphia (1909), Trenton (1909), Elkton-Wilmington (1920); and in Bulletins for Quakerstown-Doyletown (1931) and Honeybrook-Pheonixville (1938).

Florence Bascom was the first woman fellow of the Geological Society of America. In 1924 she became councilor and in 1930 Vice President of that organization. From 1896 to 1905, she was the editor of The American Geologist . She was also a member of the National Academy of the National Research Council and the Geophysical Union and other scientific societies.

Having returned to Williamstown, Massachusetts to live with her sister, Florence Bascom died on June 18, 1945. She never married and had no children.

Bibliography

Ogilvie, Ida H. “Florence Bascom: 1862-1945.” Science vol. 102 (1945): 320-321.

“Florence Bascom, Geologist, was 82.” New York Times . June 20, 1945.