 |
| Alice Wilson, linocut on collaged washi papers, 11" x 14" by Ele Willoughby, 2018 |
Some people are late bloomers. Some are slowed in
their progress due to illness and battle serious illness throughout
their life. Some scientists only pursue science a little later in life.
Some experience all three. Alice Wilson did not at first study
geology, and once a geologist her employer hindered her advance, as a
woman, at every stage. Nevertheless, she persisted and made her greatest
achievements later and took the greatest pleasure in her career after
her retirement! Her extraordinary tenacity and glorious success late in
life is such a satisfying story.
Geologist and
paleontologist Alice Wilson (1881-1964) was outdoorsy as a girl. Her
family spent its summers canoeing, camping and collecting fossils in the
limestone formations near their home in Coburg, Ontario. The Wilsons
valued scholarship and science. Her father was a professor of classics
at the University of Toronto. She went to the University of Toronto to
study modern languages and history, as preparation for one of the few
career options for women: teaching. But her ill health prevented her
from finishing her degree and she withdrew in her final year. When she
recovered, she decided to pursue her fossil collecting first love, got a
job in the Mineralogy Division of the University of Toronto Museum, and
found an entry into her career in geology.
Then in
1909 she got a job as a museum assistant with the Geological Survey of
Canada (GSC), in Ottawa, where she would work until 1946 and then
maintain an office as an emeritus scientist until shortly before her
death in 1964. She was supervised by the GSC's chief paleontologist
Percy Raymond and catalogued and labelled the invertebrate paleontology
collections. Raymond encouraged her to complete her undergraduate
degree, which she succeeded in doing in 1911, after which she was
offered a permanent position with the survey - the first woman to hold a
professional position there. Alice Wilson became the first female
geologist in Canada, facing a series of roadblocks due to her sex. She
had to fight for the right to do fieldwork, arguing to superiors that
"with reference to further field work of the more strenuous type, I
would like to point out that while not heavily built, I am muscularly
very strong, and from earliest childhood have been accustomed to an
out-of-door life both with canoe and tramping." Since she was forbidden
to stay in remote field sites with male colleagues, she made a case
that she could work alone during day trips which she made on foot or
bicycle. Denied access to a government field vehicle provided to men
she later used her own car. The GSC otherwise barred women from
fieldwork until 1970.
Her research interests focused
on fossil invertebrates from the Paleozoic era (252–541 million years
ago) from across Canada, and from the Ordovician era (444–485 million
years ago) in her own backyard in Ontario and Quebec as well as
Ordovician fauna from the Rockies and Arctic. She studied stratigraphy
in Ontario and Quebec. Over the course of 50 years, she became an
authority on fossils and rocks of the Ottawa - St. Lawrence Valley, as a
direct response to the sexist limitations placed upon her. Her studies
of the geology and paleontology around Cornwall, Ontario were vital to
the construction of the St. Lawrence Seaway. She covered more than
16,000 square kilometers despite ill health, frail constitution and the
limitations placed upon her.
 |
Alice Wilson at Rigaud Mountain, Québec, May 1953, happy after retirement
(courtesy Natural Resources Canada/Photo number 165185-A)
|
She
fought from 1915 for a decade for the right to take an education
leave; paid leave was commonly awarded to her male peers. She despite
repeated denials, she persisted and in 1926 she was allowed to apply for
a scholarship from the Canadian Federation of University Women (CFUW),
but when it was granted to her, she was again denied leave. CFUW
campaigned on her behalf, even petitioning Cabinet members and
eventually the GSC relented and allowed her leave. She earned her
doctorate from the University of Chicago in 1929 at age 49! She
returned to the GSC and was repeatedly denied promotions or the
professional recognition she deserved. She had only been promoted from
clerk to assistant paleontologist in 1919, and then to assistant
geologist in 1926. She did not receive a raise, as was common practice,
after completing her doctorate. Perhaps an unexpected champion, the
government of Prime Minister R. B. Bennett was seeking a female federal
civil servant to honour in 1935 and selected Wilson to become a Member
of the Order of the British Empire. One suspects the GSC was shamed into
action as they rapidly published her research for the first time in 10
years and gave her a promotion. Wilson became first the female Canadian
Fellow of the Geological Society of America in 1936, and first female
Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada in 1938. She finally was promoted
from assistant to a full geologist position in 1940. By 1945, she
finally was addressed by the well-earned title "Dr." Five people were
hired to replace her upon her retirement! Following compulsory
retirement at age 65, in 1946, she had what she thought of as the
happiest stage of her career. She was afforded the opportunity to mentor
protegés and share her love of geology with students and children. She
taught paleontology at Carleton, wrote a children’s book about geology
The earth beneath our feet. She
maintained an office as emeritus scientist at the GSC until she was
82, visiting daily and continuing her fieldwork. She published more than
50 academic papers throughout her career. When she finally gave up her
office, the survey's director James M. Harrison tried to disuade her but
she told him that her "work was done." Alice Wilson is one of
only 60 inductees in the Canadian Science and Engineering Hall of Fame.
Alice Wilson is now a designated national historic person.
I’ve
shown her with one of her geological maps of the Ottawa region,
published at the official "end" of her career just before she retired,
which was for her another beginning. Her publication in 1946, 'Geology
of the Ottawa - St. Lawrence Lowland, Ontario and Quebec' was the first
the first major geological publication about the region and we owe our
knowledge of the area's geology and economic resources including
building stone, sand, gravel, and drinking water to Wilson.
References
Alice Wilson, Libraries and Archives Canada, accessed May 2, 2018
Alice Wilson, The Canadian Encyclopedia, accessed May 2, 2018
Wilson, A E,
Geology of the Ottawa - St. Lawrence Lowland, Ontario and Quebec, Geological Survey of Canada, Memoir 241, 1946, 66 pages (4 sheets)
Alice Evelyn Wilson 1881-1964; Canadian Science and Engineering Hall of Fame, Canada Science and Technology Museum.
The History of the Geological Survey of Canada in 175 Objects
Trailblazer - Alice Evelyn Wilson, 1881-1964 First Woman Geologist Left her Mark in Stone
Alice Wilson, Wikipedia, accessed May 2, 2018
Parks Canada This Week in History for
Monday December 24, 2012, Nothing could stop Alice Wilson!
