Elizabeth Florette Fisher

Elizabeth Florette Fisher was one of the first field geologists in the United States. Born in Boston, Massachusetts, she attended and later taught at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). She was also the first woman to be sent out by an oil company for a survey, helping to locate oil wells in North-Central Texas during a nationwide oil shortage. During this same time, she not only continued her career as an instructor at Wellesley College, but also wrote an influential textbook for junior high students called Resources and Industries of the United States. She stressed the need for conservation, and believed "unclaimed" land should be used for agriculture. She was a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the American Geographical Society, and also was a member of the Appalachian Mountain Club and the Boston Society of Natural History. She died in 1941 from illness.