Mignon Talbot
Mignon Talbot | |
---|---|
Podokesaurus holyokensis in 1910 | |
Born | Iowa City, Iowa, U.S. | August 16, 1869
Died | July 18, 1950 Holyoke, Massachusetts, U.S. | (aged 80)
Relatives | Ellen Bliss Talbot (sister) |
Scientific career | |
Fields | Paleontology, geology, geography |
Institutions | Mount Holyoke College |
Mignon Talbot (August 16, 1869 – July 18, 1950) was an American
Born in
Education
Talbot attended Ohio State University from 1888 to 1892, where she studied geology with Edward Orton and received her undergraduate degree.[6] She received her doctorate degree in paleontology from Yale University in 1904 with a dissertation on Helderbergian crinoids of New York State.[2][6]
Research and findings
Talbot is the only known discoverer of fossils of the dinosaur Podokesaurus holyokensis, which she found near Mount Holyoke college where she was a professor. The location was by the Connecticut River between two outcroppings of mountains in a bed of sandstone.[4] During a meeting at the Paleontological Society in December 1910, the dinosaur was first labelled as a herbivore by Talbot. As her research continued she subsequently identified the creature as theropod, in collaboration with Yale University professor Richard Swan Lull. A colleague of Lull, Friedrich von Huene, moved Podokesaurus holyokensis to a new family based on genus.[7] The specimen was formally described in June 1911 by Talbot, who thereby became the first woman to discover and name a non-bird dinosaur.[8]
Many of her research notes are considered historical artifacts. Talbot's contributions to geology were later reproduced in a collection[9] decided upon by various scholars.
Personal life
Talbot's maternal grandfather was a doctor, and her father served as the superintendent of a school for deaf children. Even though her parents died within days of each other in 1899, by that time her family situation had allowed her to pursue a post-secondary education and further a career in academia. She served as a high school teacher in Columbus, Ohio even while continuing graduate work at the State University and at the same time "keeping up a home for [her younger] brothers." She left Ohio to continue her study of paleontology full time at Yale beginning in early 1903.[10][6] She was one of four children, her sister being Dr. Ellen Bliss Talbot, a professor of philosophy at the same college—Mount Holyoke College—as Mignon, and two brothers, Herbert S. Talbot and Benjamin Talbot. Throughout her years of university, she was a member of Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority, serving on the national council of that organization, and Phi Beta Kappa. After her successful career as a paleontologist and professor, she retired in Stevens House, South Hadley.[11]
References
- ^ Talbot, Mignon (1911). "Podokesaurus holyokensis, a new dinosaur from the Triassic of the Connecticut Valley". American Journal of Science. 4th Series, Volume 31 (186): 469–479. Retrieved February 15, 2023.
- ^ .
- ^ Mount Holyoke College. Mignon Talbot Biography Verified January 6, 2011.
- ^ ISBN 9780801441196.
- ISBN 9780415920407.
- ^ )
- ISBN 9781862393110.
- ^ Turner, S., Burek, C. & Moody, R.T., 2010, "Forgotten women in an extinct Saurian 'mans' World", In: Moody, R.T., Buffetaut, E., Martill, D. & Naish, D. Eds. Dinosaurs and Other Extinct Saurians: A Historical Perspective. The Geological Society, London, Special Publication, 343: 111-153
- ISBN 9781286816172.
- ^ The Key of Kappa Kappa Gamma (Vol 30 (1) ed.). Kappa Kappa Gamma. February 1913. p. 487.
- ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved December 30, 2018.
Further reading
- Kass-Simon, Gabrielle; Farnes, Patricia; Nash, Deborah, eds. (1999). Women of science : righting the record ([Nachdr] ed.). Bloomington, Indiana: Indiana Univ. Press. pp. 60, 65. ISBN 9780253208132.
- Levin, Miriam R. (2005). Defining women's scientific enterprise : Mount Holyoke faculty and the rise of American science. Hanover: University press of New England. p. 135. ISBN 9781584654193.