Posts by Dina Pandya

How Women Oceanographers Overcame the Prohibition Against Going to Sea – Thursday, March 30 at 2 p.m. in Redfield Auditorium

This year’s theme is equity, diversity, and inclusion: water unites us. Today the U.N. is hosting an assembly on achieving clean water for everyone, and the role of women and girls in science as agents of change in water sanitation, conservation, and access.  Here at WHOI, we are united by water. And we are committed…

Ruth Turner discusses logistics on R/V Lulu before diving in the sub with then-Chief Alvin Pilot Ralph Hollis, Friday, August 13th, 1971. (Photo by Anne Rabushka, © Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution).

Marie Tharp was a pioneering American geologist and oceanographic cartographer who helped create the first scientific map of the Atlantic Ocean floor.

The story of women at sea on WHOI ships began quietly in the early 1950’s when the wives of researchers were allowed on ships with their husbands, but not as a science equal. Today, there are many high profile WHOI projects led by woman, including a multi-disciplinary effort to explore, understand and raise awareness of the ocean twilight zone with WHOI Senior Scientist Heidi Sosik as the science lead. WHOI is committed to equality and inclusion, and continues to honor the contributions of female scientists and engineers whose work inspired change and broke through gender barriers.

Over the 90 years since WHOI was founded , women have made incredible contributions to the Institution and to ocean sciences. As our knowledge of the deep has grown, sharing advances and educating the public is increasingly important . Susan Humphris, a marine geo chemist at WHOI, is not only a world class researcher, but a key player in expanding how ocean research is shared with a wider audience

Cindy Van Dover was born in 1954 and grew up in New Jersey exploring varied and fascinating marine invertebrates every summer.

In the early days, many women joined the WHOI community as wives rather than as employees themselves. One such women was Elizabeth “Chickie” Stommel, who was married to renowned oceanographer Henry Stommel.

“She had fashioned a remarkable career out of the oddest assortment of parts: athletic prowess, an atomic bomb, a Smith firing, nosiness, and smidgen of luck.”-Kim Robert Nilsen, “Oceans, Atoms and Earthly Secrets