Carrie Matilda Derick (January 14, 1862 – November 10, 1941)
was a Canadian botanist and geneticist, the first female professor in a Canadian university, and the founder of
McGill University
McGill University (french: link=no, Université McGill) is an English-language public research university located in Montreal, Quebec
Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous ...
's Genetics Department.
Early life and education
Born in the
Eastern Townships in
Clarenceville,
Canada East (now
Quebec
Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...
) in 1862, Derick was educated at the Clarenceville Academy (a Montreal grammar school).
She began teaching by the age of fifteen.
Derick later received teacher training at the McGill Normal School, graduating in 1881 as a Prince of Wales Gold Medal winner.
She then went on to become a school teacher in Clarenceville and Montreal, and later serving as a principal (at the age of nineteen) of the Clarenceville Academy.
In 1889, Derick pursued a B.A. from McGill University, and graduated in 1890, at the top of her class in
natural science with first-class honours, the highest GPA (94%) that year, and received the Logan Gold Medal.
Her graduating class included two other notable Canadian women:
Elizabeth Binmore and
Maude Abbott
Maude Elizabeth Seymour Abbott (March 18, 1868Sources disagree on the date of Abbott's birth. The Canadian Encyclopedia'Maude Abbott Medical Museum and the ' are among the sources that support a birthdate of 18 March 1868. However, articles in the ...
. She began teaching at the Trafalgar Institute for Girls in 1890, while also working part-time as McGill's first female botany demonstrator.
In 1891, Derick began her master's program at McGill under
David Penhallow and received her M.A. in botany within four years (1896), while holding two simultaneous jobs.
She then attended the
University of Bonn
The Rhenish Friedrich Wilhelm University of Bonn (german: Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn) is a public research university located in Bonn, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It was founded in its present form as the ( en, Rhine ...
,
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
, in 1901 and completed the research required for a Ph.D. but was not awarded an official doctorate since the University of Bonn did not give women Ph.D. degrees at the time.
Derick also studied at
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...
for three summers, the
Royal College of Science
The Royal College of Science was a higher education institution located in South Kensington; it was a constituent college of Imperial College London from 1907 until it was wholly absorbed by Imperial in 2002. Still to this day, graduates from th ...
, London in 1898, and the
Marine Biological Laboratory
The Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL) is an international center for research and education in biological and environmental science. Founded in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, in 1888, the MBL is a private, nonprofit institution that was independent ...
in Woods Hole, Massachusetts for seven summers.
Career
Achieving university professorship
Following her PhD research, Derick then returned to McGill University.
Given her previous seven years of teaching, researching, administration work and publishing (without pay) at McGill University, Derick wrote directly to Principal Peterson and was promoted to the position of assistant professor at one-third the salary of her male counterparts in 1905.
In 1909, when Penhallow (Derick's former Master's supervisor, then chair for McGill University's Botany Department) fell ill, Derick assumed his role as chair.
Penhallow died in 1910.
Following Penhallow's death, Derick continued to run the department for three years.
In 1912, McGill University began a search for a new department chair and did not recruit Derick, despite her previous experience or the strong support she received.
Instead, Derick was officially appointed as professor of morphological botany by McGill University in 1912.
This made Derick the first woman both at McGill University and in Canada to achieve university professorship.
However, morphological botany was not Derick's research expertise, and this new position did not come with a pay rise, or a seat on the faculty.
Derick was told by the McGill University president that this was a 'courtesy title' and she was not actually a professor.
Furthermore, the new botany department chair assigned Derick work suitable for a demonstrator, not a professor.
Derick continued to persevere in her role, and returned to teaching and research after a new demonstrator was hired.
She later petitioned to have her title changed to professor of
comparative morphology
Comparative anatomy is the study of similarities and differences in the anatomy of different species. It is closely related to evolutionary biology and phylogeny (the evolution of species).
The science began in the classical era, continuing i ...
and genetics to be more representative of her expertise and research interests.
Derick founded McGill University's Genetics department.
She created the Evolution and Genetics course (the first of its kind in Canada) and published a number of academic publications on botany.
She was one of the few women to be listed in the ''American Men of Science'' (1910)''.''
''
''
Due to poor health, Derick retired in 1929.
McGill University awarded her the honorary title of "professor emerita," making her the first female professor emeritus in Canada.
Service and advocacy
Derick was a leader in early feminism: fighting for women's right to education, the vote, and work.
Derick also co-founded and was a lifelong member of the
National Council of Women of Canada
The National Council of Women of Canada (NCWC, french: Conseil national des femmes du Canada, (''CNFC'')) is a Canadian advocacy organization based in Ottawa, Ontario, aimed at improving conditions for women, families, and communities. A federati ...
.
Her co-founder was
Maude Abbott
Maude Elizabeth Seymour Abbott (March 18, 1868Sources disagree on the date of Abbott's birth. The Canadian Encyclopedia'Maude Abbott Medical Museum and the ' are among the sources that support a birthdate of 18 March 1868. However, articles in the ...
: McGill's pioneer cardiologist and curator of the Medical Museum.
Derick was a member of the Mu Iota Society, a group whose name was later changed to The Alumnae Society. She was a fellow of the
American Association for the Advancement of Science, vice president of the Natural History Society of Montreal, and a member of the
Botanical Society of America, the American Genetics Association, the Montreal Philosophical Club, the Canadian Public Health Association, the Executive Committee of the National Council of Education, and the first woman on the Protestant Committee of Public Instruction, Quebec, from 1920 to 1937.
Derick was also president of the Montreal Suffrage Association from 1913 to 1919.
She publicly supported birth control in Canada (which was then illegal from 1891 to 1969).
In 1915, Derrick confronted then Quebec premier
Sir Lomer Gouin regarding his views on the topic of birth control.
Derick also supported other social causes, including the need for mandatory school attendance for children, and care for 'abnormal' children.
In 1914, Derick supported
Annie Langstaff, the first female law graduate from McGill University, in her unsuccessful bid to join Quebec's bar.
One of Derick's students,
Faith Fyles, went on to become assistant botanist on the
Central Experimental Farm in
Ottawa.
Death
Derick died on November 10, 1941 in Montreal, Quebec.
Posthumous recognition
A street (Rue Carrie-Derick) is named after her in Montreal's Southwest borough. An award has been created in her honour at McGill University, titled the Carrie M. Derick Award for Graduate Supervision and Teaching.
Derick was designated as a National Historic Person in 2007. On her 155th birthday in 2017, she was recognized through a
Google Doodle
A Google Doodle is a special, temporary alteration of the logo on Google's homepages intended to commemorate holidays, events, achievements, and notable historical figures. The first Google Doodle honored the 1998 edition of the long-running an ...
.
Carrie Derick’s 155th Birthday
Google, January 14, 2017
Awards
*The J.C. Weston prize
See also
*Timeline of women in science
This is a timeline of women in science, spanning from ancient history up to the 21st century. While the timeline primarily focuses on women involved with natural sciences such as astronomy, biology, chemistry and physics, it also includes women f ...
References
External links
Biography of Carrie Derick
from The Centre for Canadian Studies at Mount Allison University
*Gillett, Margaret. "Carrie Derick (1862-1941) and the chair of botany at McGill.
''Despite the odds: Essays on Canadian women and science''
Ed. Marianne Gosztonyi Ainley. Montreal: Véhicule Press, 1990, 74–87.
*Gillett, Margaret
''We walked very warily: A history of women at McGill''
Montréal: Eden Press Women's Publications, 1981.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Derick, Carrie
1862 births
1941 deaths
20th-century Canadian botanists
Canadian women botanists
Canadian women geneticists
Canadian geneticists
Botanists active in North America
Academics in Quebec
Canadian feminists
Canadian expatriates in Germany
People from Montérégie
Academic staff of McGill University
Harvard University alumni
University of Bonn alumni
Anglophone Quebec people
Persons of National Historic Significance (Canada)
McGill University alumni
20th-century Canadian women scientists