User:Posway/Frances Lawrance Parker

Background/Early Life

Frances Lawrance Parker (28 March, 1906- March, 2006) was an American geologist and micropaleontologist. She is credited as a pioneer in the world of paleoceanography and micropaleontology, and acknowledged for her extensive contribution to the modern-day knowledge of benthic and planktonic Foraminifera.

Frances Lawrence Parker was born in Brookline, Massachusetts, March 28, 1906. She was the youngest child of Philip Stanley Parker and Eleanor Payson Parker, with two older sisters and a brother.

Education

Parker completed a bachelors in Geology with a minor in chemistry at Vassar College in 1928. Unlike other institutions at the time, Vassar promoted decent science courses for women.  Throughout her studies, she attended geological trips to Wyoming, accompanied by geologist Thomas McDougall Hills, which focused on glacial geology. Searching for ways to enrich her education in geology, Parker decided to pursue a masters in geology from MIT in 1930.

Career

After completing her masters, Parker became the research assistant of Joseph Cushman, a renowned micropaleontologist, at the Cushman laboratory in Sharon, Massachusetts. With funding from the U.S. Geological Survey, Cushman and Parker studied foraminifera. Her career further developed once she had passed the USGS exam, allowing her to be appointed assistant scientist (paleontologist). In the 1930s, Cushman and Parker traveled to central Europe to study various specimens, and visited scientists, museums, and laboratories that were engaged in micropaleontology study. Together, the paleontologists published sixteen papers together based on this research between 1930 and 1940. During this time, she also spent time researching for the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution alongside Fred B. Phleger during the summers of 1936-1940.

In 1940, Parker stepped back from her work in the science field for a brief amount of time, and worked as academic secretary at Foxcroft School, an exclusive girls’ school in Virginia. A short three years later, she was offered an opportunity to return to a research position, but this time expand from her work in foraminifera taxonomy, and to carry her knowledge over into the petroleum industry, specifically to the Shell Oil company in Houston, Texas. She held a position as senior paleontologist with the company from 1943 until 1945. Subsequently, in 1947, Parker once again began to work with Fred B. Phleger, a now faculty member at Amherst College in Boston, doing summer research in his laboratory (cite), which was funded by WHOI. Together, they studied the taxonomy of Atlantic foraminifera.

After retiring from her work with Phleger, Parker found herself to be a successful researcher at Scripps Research for a considerable amount of time. She studied a variety of subjects, including geology, ecology, biogeography, and taxonomy. At the Scripps laboratory, she authored a total of over thirty articles collaboratively with colleagues, such as Phlegar, as well as independently.

During the 1950s, Parker and Phleger continued to work together, leading them to move their research to La Jolla, California. After founding the Marina Foraminifera Laboratory at SIO, Parker spent her time as an associate in marine geology, later as a junior research geologist and then finally as an assistant research geologist. After a brief break from SIO, in 1960 Parker returned and was promoted to associate research geologist, and lastly from 1967 up until her retirement in 1973, she was a research paleontologist. Although retired, Parker continued to work as a research associate.

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Works and Contributions

Parker had a long and successful career in which she explored many subjects such as taxonomy, ecology, biogeography, stratigraphy, and preservation. She had over 30 papers published which had various critical contributions to her field. The most cited of these being “Planktonic foraminiferal species in Pacific sediments” in 1962. This paper changed the way planktonic foraminifers are identified in the modern age. This paved the way for a follow up study and subsequent published paper in 1973 titled “Late Cenozoic biostratigraphy (planktonic foraminifera) of tropical Atlantic deep-sea sections” which is also highly regarded.

Parker’s work was not only limited to her research, but her contributions also led her to founding the Marine Foraminifera Laboratory at Scripps with Fred B. Phleger in 1950, which was funded by the American Petroleum Insititute and later by the Office of Naval Research and the National Science Foundation.  

Some of Parker’s most recognized works include her paper published in 1962 on the taxonomy of plankton foraminifers, as well as another paper published in 1973 on Late Cenozoic biostratigraphy (planktonic foraminifera) of tropical Atlantic deep-sea sections. Her works also led her to become the editor for the Contributions and Special Publications of the Cushman Foundation for Foraminiferal Research.

It is no surprise that Parker’s research transformed her field. Many of her papers have since come to be recognized as significant contributions, and classics. As a result of her immense work, she received the Cushman Award for Outstanding Achievement in Foraminiferal Research in 1981.

Published Books

• “Ecology of Foraminifera from San Antonio Bay and Environs, Southwest Texas"
• “The Clinch River Study: An Investigation of the Fate of Radionuclides”