Alice Wilson, 1st Female Geologist
A Geology Pioneer, Dr. Wilson Opened Doors for Women in Science
Jun 7, 2008
Like a lot of little kids, Alice Wilson loved to play outside, examining the rocks and fossils with her brothers, and on family camping and canoe trips. But Alice didn’t outgrow her love of geology when she grew up. Instead, she made it her job, a career that lasted into her 80s.
On August 26, 1881, Alice Evelyn Wilson was born in Cobourg, Ontario. Her parents promoted education, and the small girl was learning Latin and Greek from her mother before she even entered school, said Merna Foster in 100 Canadian Heroines: Famous and Forgotten Facts. In school, science was Alice’s passion. She entered Victoria University in 1901 to take courses toward a teaching degree, one of the small number of professions available to women at the time.
Career Changed to Geology
Becoming ill, Alice dropped out of the program and was unable to attend the final year of her studies. When recovered, she returned to university but this time working in her area of enthusiasm: assistant at the Mineralogy Department of the University of Toronto Museum.
In 1909, Alice joined the Geological Survey of Canada (GSC), working as a temporary clerk in the Invertebrate Paleontology division. Her work, said Natural Resources Canada, was cataloguing, arranging and labeling “the collection for the Victoria Memorial Museum in Ottawa, now the Museum of Nature.” Meanwhile, she finished her BA degree, and was promoted to Museum Assistant in 1911. With the promotion came a raise in pay, from $800 a year to $850. A rare woman in a male-dominated world, Alice was now the first female with a professional post at the Geological Survey of Canada.
Advanced again in 1919, Alice became Assistant Paleontologist. But all was not equal for the singular professional woman. While her male colleagues were given cars to travel to their distant work sites, it was thought inappropriate at the time for a woman to be at the wheel. Alice was given a bicycle and areas closer to the GSC to research such as the Ottawa-St. Lawrence Seaway. (She circumvented the ruling by buying her own Model T Ford.) Requesting leave beginning in 1915 and on to obtain a PhD, Alice was refused repeatedly. The Canadian Federation of University Women offered her a scholarship in 1926, but still the GSC refused, noted Collections Canada. It was not until a fuss was made to politicians and government that Alice was given leave to complete graduate studies.
Promoted to Geologist
After years and years of battling for the time, Alice received her Doctorate in Geology in 1929 from the University of Chicago. Promoted to Associate Geologist in 1940, she was again advanced to full Geologist after the War; at age 49, Alice was the first woman Geologist in Canada. Still, the GSC did not recognize her as Dr. Wilson until 1945.
The barriers put before Alice did not stop others from recognizing this ground-breaking woman. In 1935, she was awarded the Order of the British Empire. In 1936, she was the first Canadian woman to enter the Geological Society of America, and in 1938, the first woman as Fellow in the Royal Society of Canada.
Earth Science Work Continued
Compulsory retirement from the Geological Survey of Canada came for Alice at age 65, but she was able to keep her office and continued to work at her beloved earth science. Enjoying the sharing of her knowledge with others, especially children interested in rocks and fossils, in 1947 Alice wrote “The Earth Beneath Our Feet”, a school textbook. She taught in lectures and field trips through Carleton College, now Carleton University in Ottawa, and traveled the world, visiting the Amazon and other exotic destinations in South America. Carleton University bestowed Alice with an Honourary Doctor of Laws degree in 1960.
Dr. Alice Wilson continued working until late 1964, when she retired finally at age 82, just a few months before her death on April 15, 1964. Her career spanning 50 years with the GSC, the love of Geology had captured Alice’s whole life. Her struggles for advancement in “a man’s world” pushed opened the door for Canadian women to advance in science.
Source:
100 Canadian Heroines: Famous and Forgotten Faces, by Merna Forster, published by Dundurn Press, Toronto 2004. Pp. 276-277.
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