Easter Ellen Cupp

Easter Ellen Cupp was the first woman to get a Ph.D. in oceanography from Scripps Institution of Oceanography. She is known for her work on diatoms.

Easter Cupp
BornMarch 30, 1904
DiedAugust 27, 1999
Alma materUniversity of California
Scientific career
ThesisA critical study of certain distinguishing characters in three closely allied plankton species of the diatom genus Nitzschia and their relationships to certain environmental conditions (1934)
Doctoral advisorW.E. Allen

Education and career

Cupp was born on March 30, 1904, which was the day Easter holiday is celebrated,[1] in Neola, Iowa.[2]

In 1910 she moved to Whittier, California where she would later attend college.[3] Cupp received an undergraduate degree from Whittier College (1926),[2] and in 1927 she moved to Berkeley[4] where she received a master's degree from the University of California (1928). From 1929 until 1934 she worked as a research assistant at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography.[2] In 1934 she earned her Ph.D. from Scripps Institution of Oceanography with her research on diatoms.[5] Oceanography was a new degree at the time, and Cupp was one of only five people with a Ph.D. in oceanography at the time.[6]

Cupp both conducted research at Scripps and taught classes in phytoplankton ecology with W.E. Allen who had been her graduate advisor.[7] The director of Scripps, Harald Sverdrup, had positive reviews of Cupp's work, but in 1939 he fired Cupp because he decided her research did not match the research goals of the institution. Sverdrup replaced Cupp with Marston Sargent who had arrived at Scripps a year earlier.[7] In later year's Cupp's status as the first woman to earn a Ph.D. from Scripps was forgotten by some, and Naomi Oreskes speculated in 2000 that some were uncomfortable with the firing of Cupp.[8]

After Scripps, Cupp worked with the Navy from 1940 until 1943,[3] and then became a teacher at Woodrow Wilson Middle School in City Heights, California.[9] She retired from teaching in 1967.[3]

Cupp died in 1999.[10]

Research

Cupp is known for her research on diatoms, and she published a guide to diatoms found in the western United States,[11] and other locations.[12][13] She published works on different diatoms species she encountered in her investigations.[14] Cupp was also known for her illustrations and collaborated with others on works requiring illustrations.[15][16]

Selected publications
  • Cupp, Easter Ellen (1930). Spirotrichonympha polygyra sp. nov. from neotermes simplicicornis banks. University of California Press. OCLC 1080896485.
  • Ellen., Cupp, Easter (1938). Plankton diatoms of the Gulf of California obtained by the G. Allan Hancock Pacific expedition of 1937. University of Southern California Press. OCLC 636742192.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  • Cupp, Easter Ellen (1943). Marine plankton diatoms of the west coast of North America. University of California Press. OCLC 55992614.

References
  1. "Easter Ellen Cupp and Dorothy Rosenbury interviewed by Joellen Russell". library.ucsd.edu (Interview). August 1998. Retrieved February 12, 2023.
  2. Pamphlets on Protozoology (Kofoid Collection). 1914.
  3. "Easter Ellen Cupp Papers". oac.cdlib.org. Retrieved February 12, 2023.
  4. "Clipped From The Whittier News". The Whittier News. August 11, 1927. p. 5. Retrieved February 12, 2023.
  5. "Women passes test; become oceanographer". The Whittier News. May 10, 1934. p. 13. Retrieved February 11, 2023.
  6. "Only five holders of rarest degree". The Enid Morning News. June 17, 1934. p. 13. Retrieved February 12, 2023.
  7. Rainger, Ronald (2003). "Adaptation and the Importance of Local Culture: Creating a Research School at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography". Journal of the History of Biology. 36 (3): 461–500. doi:10.1023/B:HIST.0000004570.20057.93. ISSN 0022-5010. JSTOR 4331827. S2CID 84099101.
  8. Oreskes, Naomi (2000). ""Laissez-tomber": Military Patronage and Women's Work in Mid-20th-Century Oceanography". Historical Studies in the Physical and Biological Sciences. 30 (2): 373–392. doi:10.2307/27757836. ISSN 0890-9997. JSTOR 27757836.
  9. Day, Deborah (October 14, 1999). "Overview of the History of Women at Scripps Institution of Oceanography". {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  10. Williams, Jack (September 1, 1999). "Dr. Easter Ellen Cupp, 95; pioneer in oceanography, longtime teacher". The San Diego Union - Tribune; San Diego, Calif. [San Diego, Calif]. pp. B.5 – via ProQuest.
  11. Cupp, Easter Ellen (1943). Marine plankton diatoms of the west coast of North America. University of California Press. OCLC 55992614.
  12. "Australian diatoms studied at La Jolla". Evening Vanguard. December 27, 1932. p. 2. Retrieved February 12, 2023.
  13. "Pastures of the Sea". The People's Banner. July 1, 1943. p. 7. Retrieved February 12, 2023.
  14. Cupp, Easter Ellen (1928). Spirotrichonympha Polygyra Sp. Nov. from Kalotermes Simplicicornis Banks. University of California.
  15. "W.E. Allen's phytoplankton species time series and environmental factors from the North American Pacific coast : with related illustrations from Cupp and Kofoid | WorldCat.org". www.worldcat.org. Retrieved February 12, 2023.
  16. Sutton, Ransome (June 7, 1931). "What's new in science". The Los Angeles Times. p. 128. Retrieved February 12, 2023.
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