Florence Bascom (photo courtesy United States Geological Survey)
John Bascom's name is honored on the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus.
His daughter, Florence Bascom, is just as celebrated in the field of geology. Florence Bascom is considered to be the first female geologist in the United States. She was the first woman hired by the United States Geological Survey, which profiled her this week as part of Earth Science Week.
Florence Bascom (1862-1945) studied at UW-Madison in the late 1870s and early 1880s, obtaining bachelor's and master's degrees in geology. She went on to become the first woman to receive a Ph.D. from Johns Hopkins and taught at Bryn Mawr College, in addition working for the USGS.