We are sad to note the recent passing of our colleague, Ursula B. Marvin. Dr. Marvin recieved her PhD in geology from Harvard in 1969 and worked in our department for many years researching the mineralogy of meteorites and lunar samples.
Notably, decades before receiving her PhD, she was the first female research assistant in Harvard's Geology Department. Quoting from a Smithsonian web page: "Geology lit a fire. I fell in love with it the first week." Considered an unacceptable profession for women, when Dr. Marvin approached her (Tufts) geology professor indicating that she wanted to change her major, he said, "You should be learning to cook." Undeterred, she took the "sneaky stratagem" of continuing to pursue history while also taking all the geology classes she could; enough to gain a minor in geology that led to a full-tuition scholarship to study geology at the Harvard-Radcliffe graduate school. At Harvard she became the first woman research assistant in the geology department and received her Master's in 1946." A forerunner for women researchers in our field and an accomplished and much honored scientist, Dr. Marvin will be greatly missed.
