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Mary Ann Booth

Mary Ann Allard Booth
Born(1843-09-08)September 8, 1843
Longmeadow, Massachusetts
DiedSeptember 15, 1922(1922-09-15) (aged 79)
NationalityAmerican
Scientific career
FieldsMicroscopy

Mary Ann Allard Booth (September 8, 1843 – September 15, 1922) was an American microscopist.

Biography

Mary Ann Allard Booth was born on September 8, 1843, in Longmeadow, Massachusetts, to Samuel and Rhoda Colton Booth. She inherited her interest in science from her father, who was a scientist.[1] She attended public schools and Wilbraham Academy.[2][3] In 1877, she got her first microscope.[1] Booth had a fully equipped laboratory in her Springfield home, where she prepared and stored microscope slides. She also had an interest in photography, which she incorporated into her microscopic work.[1] Booth travelled extensively around the United States and Canada where she would conduct lectures about photomicrography.[4] She prepared the micrographs used by Rupert Blue during his efforts to stop bubonic plague in San Francisco.[2]

She was elected as one of the first female Fellows of the Royal Microscopical Society in 1889[5] and was also a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Her other association memberships include the Royal Photographic Society, the American Microscopic Society, the Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences, and the Daughters of the American Revolution.[6][7]

Noted for her preparation of diatoms and pollens, Booth earned a Diploma of Honor in Entomology (Women's Department) at the 1884–85 New Orleans World's Industrial and Cotton Centennial Exposition. In 1916, Booth donated a series of her photomicrographs to the Springfield Museum of Natural History.[8]

In 1901 she become the second person and first woman in the town of Springfield to own an automobile.[1][9] She first purchased a steam motor and later an electric runabout.[1]

Booth passed away on September 15, 1922 from apoplexy.[10][4]

Microscopy

Whilst suffering from an illness at her home, Booth acquired skills in preparing slides for microscopy for a variety of human parasites, and was considered to have the largest private collection of them.[3] She won a range of awards for her work, edited Practical Microscopy between 1900 and 1907, and was elected a fellow of the Royal Microscopical Society and Royal Photographic Society.[3]

Booth gained more recognition through her fight against the Bubonic Plague. From 1907 to 1908, she assisted the U.S. Surgeon General in San Francisco. She was able to document the germ-bearing fleas, which were the transmitters of the plague from rats, through photomicroscopy.[9]

Mary Ann Booth not only created these microscope slides, but she also traveled around the United States and some parts of Canada giving lectures about her field of study.[11] Her lectures provided an inside look into her work and included a workshop on how to make slides.[11] Booth would also sell some of her slides at these events.[11]

Awards

Mary Ann Booth Mary Ann Booth received awards at the New Orleans World Industrial and Cotton Centennial Exposition (1885) and the St. Louis Exposition (1904).[4] Her high quality work on entomological microscope slides received a bronze plaque at the New Orleans Exposition.[4] She then went on to receive a medal at the St. Louis Exposition for her role in helping advance the field of microscopy.[4]

Death

Mary Ann Booth died on September 15, 1922.[10] Booth died of apoplexy in her yard while photographing squirrels, she was seventy-nine years old. [4][9] She left behind a $91,314 estate.[9] She also left behind a collection of her works to the Springfield Science Museum, Springfield, Massachusetts.[4]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e "— Mary Ann Allard Booth". Women in the Valley. June 24, 2015. Retrieved February 25, 2025.
  2. ^ a b James Terry White (1916). The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography. Vol. 15. Pennsylvania State University. p. 107.
  3. ^ a b c Marilyn Ogilvie; Joy Harvey (2000). Biographical Dictionary of Women in Science. Routledge. p. 326. ISBN 1135963436.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g Reiser, Frank W (March 1, 2024). "Mary Ann Allard Booth (1843–1922): America's First Woman Microscopist". Microscopy Today. 32 (2): 41–44. doi:10.1093/mictod/qaae007. ISSN 1551-9295.
  5. ^ Stevenson, Brian (March 2014). "Mary Ann Booth, 1843 – 1922". Historical Makers of Microscopes and Microscope Slides - Microscopist.net. Retrieved February 20, 2017.
  6. ^ Stevenson, Brian. "Mary Ann Booth, 1843-1922". Historical Makers of Microscopes and Microscope Slides. Retrieved May 28, 2015.
  7. ^ Daughters of the American Revolution (1904). Directory of the Chapters, Officers and Members, 1904. p. 304. Retrieved May 28, 2015.
  8. ^ Stevenson, Brian. "Mary Ann Booth, 1843–1922". Historical Makers of Microscopes and Microscope Slides. Retrieved May 28, 2015.
  9. ^ a b c d Shaker, Lenny (March 2, 2024). "Mary Ann Booth: Photomicroscopist". My Site. Retrieved February 25, 2025.
  10. ^ a b "Mary A. Booth" (PDF). New York Times. September 16, 1922. Retrieved March 24, 2014.
  11. ^ a b c "Mary Ann Allard Booth". SEARCHING AN INVISIBLE WORLD FOR ITS TINIEST THINGS. Retrieved March 1, 2025.
Quelle: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Ann_Booth