On the centenary of votes for women in the UK, it seems
appropriate to write about a pioneering woman who lived in the early twentieth century. My choice is the palaeobotanist
Dr Emily Dix.
A few years ago, I visited the wonderful Hunterian Museum in
Glasgow, and amongst the exhibits, I was surprised to discover plant fossils
attributed to a woman who was brought up in an area of South Wales not far from
my own. This was Dr Emily Dix, and her story is an interesting one.
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| Dr Emily Dix with colleagues, around 1930 . Source: http://www.palaeobotany.org/page/pioneers/emily-dix |
To begin with, she was one of the few women who studied
Geology in the early Twentieth Century, and it was rare indeed for a woman to earn a
doctoral qualification at that time. Emily was subsequently awarded the post of lecturer at
Bedford College, London. In addition to these achievements, her research on
plant fossils in coal measures in Wales and elsewhere made a significant
contribution to the subject of biological stratigraphy, which in turn had a
significant impact on the understanding of the age and composition of coal
deposits. This knowledge was of great value to the coal industry within Wales
and beyond, and Emily’s expertise was appreciated at scientific meetings and
conferences across Europe.
In addition to her obvious intelligence, Emily was apparently an enthusiastic and friendly person. But this changed during the Second World War, when something happened to her which triggered a major breakdown. This cut short her academic and research career, and her key role in geology became obscure. Authors such as Cynthia Burek and Chris Cleall have attempted to remedy this in recent years.
