Dempster, Germaine, 1898-1970

Germaine Celestine Henriette Collette was born in France. She graduated from the University of Liege and later emigrated to the United States in 1924 to complete requirements for a Ph.D. in English Literature at Stanford University, California. Her thesis on the dramatic irony of Geoffrey Chaucer, published in 1932, set the stage for years of extensive study about Chaucer and the Canterbury Tales, for which she became a noted authority. She wrote and published numerous articles, reviews and books on the subject. She helped form a research group of other scholars and researchers that conducted extensive studies on Chaucer and the Canterbury Tales. She traveled extensively throughout Europe, India, China and parts of Africa. When she moved to Chicago, she met her husband, Dr. Arthur J. Dempster who was a professor of physics at the University of Chicago.