Eloise Gerry

Eloise Gerry was an influential research scientist whose early 20th century work contributed greatly to the study of southern pine trees and turpentine production. Gerry was the first woman appointed to the professional staff of the U.S. Forest Service at the Forest Products Laboratory, and one of the first women in the United States to specialize in forest products research.

Eloise Gerry was born January 12, 1885 in Boston, Massachusetts. She received both bachelors and masters degrees from Harvard Universitys Radcliffe College, where she specialized in the anatomy of wood and trees and their physiological responses. She was first hired as a research scientist by the U.S. Forest Service in 1910. While working at the new Forest Products Laboratory in Madison, Wisconsin, Gerry would also go on to earn a Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin in 1921. Her dissertation, based on her research at the FPL, was titled Oleoresin Production A Microscopic Study of the Effects Produced on Woody tissues of Southern Pines by Different Methods of Turpentining.

Source: Wikipedia