Ursula Bailey Marvin (August 20, 1921 – February 12, 2018)R.R. Bowker Co (2009). ''American Men & Women of Science.'' Thomson/Gale was an American

planetary geologist Planetary geology, alternatively known as astrogeology or exogeology, is a planetary science discipline concerned with the geology of the celestial bodies such as the planets and their moons, asteroids, comets, and meteorites. Although the geo ...

and author who worked for the

Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory The Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory (SAO) is a research institute of the Smithsonian Institution, concentrating on astrophysical studies including galactic and extragalactic astronomy, cosmology, solar, earth and planetary sciences, the ...

.ABC-CLIO ''American Women of Science Since 1900'' She won the 1997 Women in Science and Engineering Lifetime Achievement Award.Staff report (July 1997)
Ursula Marving honoers by 'WISE' award for lifetime achievement in science.
''The CfA Almanac'' In 1986, the

Geological Society of America The Geological Society of America (GSA) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to the advancement of the geosciences. History The society was founded in Ithaca, New York, in 1888 by Alexander Winchell, John J. Stevenson, Charles H. Hitchco ...

awarded her their History of Geology Award. She also won the 2005 Sue Tyler Friedman Medal, and Antarctica's Marvin Nunatak is named in her honor. In 2012,

the Meteoritical Society The Meteoritical Society is a non-profit scholarly organization founded in 1933 to promote research and education in planetary science with emphasis on studies of meteorites and other extraterrestrial materials that further our understanding of the ...

awarded her the Service Award in part for her work recording the oral history of meteoriticists. Asteroid (4309) Marvin is named in her honour.

Early life and education

Ursula Bailey was born in

Bradford, Vermont Bradford is a town in Orange County, Vermont, United States. The population was 2,790 at the 2020 census. Bradford is located on the county's eastern border, bordering both the Connecticut River and New Hampshire, and is a commercial center for ...

on August 20, 1921 to Harold Leslie Bailey and Alice M. Bailey. Her childhood near the White Mountains of

New Hampshire New Hampshire is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec t ...

, where, as she recalled in 1997, sunsets "shone with a pink-purple afterglow," inspired her with a love of the outdoors, but did not, at first, spark an interest in geology. While studying history at

Tufts University Tufts University is a private research university on the border of Medford and Somerville, Massachusetts. It was founded in 1852 as Tufts College by Christian universalists who sought to provide a nonsectarian institution of higher learning. ...

, she took a geology class to fulfill her science requirements and was taken by the subject. She asked her geology professor to change majors to geology, but he refused (he told her she should learn how to cook) so she added geology, math and physics courses to her schedule. She graduated with a bachelor's degree in history from

in 1943z She then attended Harvard University-Radcliffe, earning a master's degree in geology in 1946.

Career and research

Following World War II, she moved to Chicago, where she was a research associate at the University of Chicago, working with

Julian Goldsmith Julian Royce Goldsmith (1918–1999) was a mineralogist and geochemist at the University of Chicago (Moore, 1971). Goldsmith, along with colleague Fritz Laves, first defined the crystallographic polymorphism of alkali feldspar (Newton, 1989). Gold ...

. She was briefly married to Lloyd Chaisson, a dental student at the University of Chicago. She then returned to Harvard, to work on her Ph.D. in geology. While at Harvard she worked alongside her second husband, Thomas Crockett Marvin (June 28, 1916 – July 1, 2012), whom she married in 1952. They prospected for ore deposits in Brazil and Angola starting in 1953. After returning to the United States in 1958, she taught mineralogy at Tufts for two years before she was offered a job researching meteorites at Harvard. She was appointed to a permanent research staff position at the

in 1961 and received a Ph.D. in geology from Harvard in 1969. She authored the 1973 book ''Continental Drift: Evolution of a Concept'' and authored over 160 research papers. Her key contributions in planetary science concentrated on studies of meteorites and lunar samples. Her publications include analysis of oxidation products of

Sputnik 4 Korabl-Sputnik 1 (russian: Корабль Спутник 1 meaning ''Vessel Satellite 1''), also known as Sputnik 4 in the West, was the first test flight of the Soviet Vostok programme, and the first Vostok spacecraft. It was launched on May 15, 1 ...

to determine mineralogical alteration over exposure time with applications to iron meteorites. She was also involved with numerous studies of returned samples from both the American and Russian lunar programs, including from the

Apollo 12 Apollo 12 (November 14–24, 1969) was the sixth crewed flight in the United States Apollo program and the second to land on the Moon. It was launched on November 14, 1969, by NASA from the Kennedy Space Center, Florida. Commander Pete Conra ...

Apollo 15 Apollo 15 (July 26August 7, 1971) was the ninth crewed mission in the United States' Apollo program and the fourth to Moon landing, land on the Moon. It was the first List of Apollo missions#Alphabetical mission types, J mission, with a ...

Apollo 16 Apollo 16 (April 1627, 1972) was the tenth crewed mission in the United States Apollo space program, administered by NASA, and the fifth and penultimate to land on the Moon. It was the second of Apollo's " J missions", with an extended sta ...

missions, and from Luna 16 and Luna 20. She traveled to Antarctica for three of the early

ANSMET ANSMET (Antarctic Search for Meteorites) is a program funded by the Office of Polar Programs of the National Science Foundation that looks for meteorites in the Transantarctic Mountains. This geographical area serves as a collection point for mete ...

surveys and analyzed the first

lunar meteorite A lunar meteorite is a meteorite that is known to have originated on the Moon. A meteorite hitting the Moon is normally classified as a transient lunar phenomenon. Discovery In January 1982, John Schutt, leading an expedition in Antarctica fo ...

, Allan Hills A81005. She was the first woman on the American team that conducted research there. Because of her contributions to research in Antarctica, a small mountain on the ice sheet was named for her, Marvin Nunatak. She served as a trustee at

from 1975 to 1985, and was an emerita trustee of the university.

Awards and honors

* 1997, Lifetime Achievement Award from Women in Science and Engineering. * 1986, History of Geology Award,

* 2005, Sue Tyler Friedman Medal * 2012, Service Award,

* Antarctica's Marvin Nunatak is named in her honor. * Asteroid (4309) Marvin is named in her honour

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Marvin, Ursula B. Women planetary scientists American women astronomers 1921 births 2018 deaths American women geologists Radcliffe College alumni 20th-century American astronomers 20th-century American geologists 20th-century American women scientists Tufts University School of Arts and Sciences alumni People from Bradford, Vermont Smithsonian Institution people Planetary scientists 21st-century American women