Helen Beulah Thompson Gaige

Helen Beulah Thompson Gaige (November 24, 1890–October 24, 1976) was an American herpetologist, curator of Reptiles and Amphibians for the Museum of Zoology at the University of Michigan and specialist in neotropical frogs.

Gaige studied at the University of Michigan with Frank Nelson Blanchard, under professor Alexander Grant Ruthven. From 1910 until 1923 she was an assistant curator of reptiles and amphibians for the Museum of Zoology at the University of Michigan. In 1923 she became curator of amphibians. In 1928, she co-authored The Herpetology of Michigan with Ruthven. In 1937 she became editor in chief of the ichthyological and herpetological periodical Copeia, and wrote extensively on the Central American amphibians and reptiles. Her research chiefly concerned the geographical distribution, habitats and life histories of amphibians. She also assisted in organizing the American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists, of which she was named honorary president in 1946. She is further honored by having several species of reptile named after her, including the many-lined skink, Plestiodon multivirgatus gaigeae and the Big Bend slider, Trachemys gaigeae. The latter she collected the first specimen of on a trip to the Big Bend region of Texas in 1928.

She was married to entomologist Frederick McMahon Gaige. In honor of the couple, the American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists presents its annual Gaige Fund Award, a monetary grant to help a graduate student in the field of herpetology.

References

• Biographies of People Honored in the Herpetological Nomenclature North America
• University of Michigan: Helen Beulah Thompson Gaige bibliography
• ASIH Gaige Fund Award
• The Biographical Dictionary of Women in Science: Pioneering Livers from Ancient Times to the Mid-20th Century