Pioneering Ecologist: Ellen Swallow

Largely forgotten by today's environmentalists and mineralogists is a pioneer scientist of the nineteenth century named Ellen Swallow. Fortunately, the memory of her accomplishments has been resurrected by Robert Clarke in his biography, Ellen Swallow: The Woman Who Founded Ecology. Her direct contributions to the field of mining included authoring First Lessons in Minerals and an analysis of the rare mineral samarskite which indicated the presence of an insoluble residue; her findings led to the eventual discovery of samarium and gadolinium. While enjoying the distinction of being the first woman student at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, she successfully isolated vanadium in an ore which other experts had examined without detecting the metal.