Bascom's specialty was petrology, the study of how present-day rocks were formed. Bascom was granted a full professorship in 1906. Because of her success, however, within a few years the single course grew into an entire major. She was hired to teach a single course, and the college had no plans to create a new department of geology. In 1895, she accepted an invitation to join the faculty of Bryn Mawr College in Pennsylvania as a Reader in Geology. in geology ever awarded to a woman by an American university.Īfter receiving her Ph.D., Bascom taught for two years at Ohio State University. By intrepidly completing difficult and often solitary field work, Bascom produced a dissertation that a writer in American Mineralogist later described as "brilliant." For this, Bascom earned in 1893 the first Ph.D. Undaunted, Bascom applied formally to the doctoral program in 1892. During classes, Bascom's seat was located in the corner of the classroom-and hidden behind a screen. Seven months later, the executive committee concluded that Bascom could attend without being officially enrolled as a student, and charged only for her laboratory fees. Bascom applied for admission to the Geology Department in September of 1890. The Johns Hopkins, however, had not yet allowed a woman to officially complete a degree program. Williams, a professor at the Johns Hopkins University renowned for his use of microscopic geological techniques. Conversely, his daughter faced immense obstacles in applying for a doctoral program. Instead, Bascom studied directly from the original research papers, written in German.Īs president of the University of Wisconsin, John Bascom was instrumental in instituting coeducation. In Germany, and there existed no textbook from which to learn them. These methods had only recently been developed Both were eminent geologists, and it was under their tutelage that Bascom learned the techniques of an emerging field of geology-the analysis of thin, translucent rock sections using microscopes and polarized light. Van Hise were Bascom's mentors at Wisconsin. Two years later she earned a Bachelor of Science degree, and in 1887 completed a Master's degree in geology. She then obtained, in 1882, two degrees-Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Letters degrees-from the University of Wisconsin. Florence Bascom was less than fifteen years old when she graduated from high school in Madison, Wisconsin. In 1874, John Bascom accepted the presidency of the University of Wisconsin, and his family left Williamstown. Both Professor Bascom and his wife Emma (Curtiss) Bascom actively supported women's rights and had strong interests in the natural sciences. John Bascom was professor of oratory and rhetoric. This town was the home of prestigious Williams College, where her father, Dr. Bascom was born on July 14, 1862, in Williamstown, Massachusetts.
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