Edith Marion Patch

Edith Marion Patch (1876-1954) was a U.S. entomologist and writer.

Born in Worcester, Massachusetts, she received a degree in English from the University of Minnesota in 1901 and originally embarked on a career as an English teacher before receiving the opportunity to organize the entomology department at the University of Maine. She became the head of the entomology department in 1904, despite misgivings from several male colleagues about having a female department head, and she remained in this post until her 1937 retirement.[1]

Patch subsequently earned her master's degree from the university in 1910 and later received a Ph.D. degree from Columbia University in New York City in 1911. During her career, she was recognized as an expert in the study of aphids and published Food Plant Catalogue of the Aphids in 1938. Patch was elected president of the Entomological Society of America and the American Nature Study Society in 1930.[2]

Patch's residence in Old Town, Maine, was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2001.[3]

References

  1. ^ Danuta Bois (1998). "Edith Marion Patch". Distinguished Women of the Past & Present. http://www.distinguishedwomen.com/biographies/patch-em.html. 
  2. ^ Marilyn Bailey Ogilvie, Joy Dorothy Harvey (1999). The Biographical Dictionary of Women in Science: L-Z. Taylor & Francis. p. 987. 
  3. ^ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. 2009-03-13. http://nrhp.focus.nps.gov/natreg/docs/All_Data.html.