Winifred Goldring
| Winifred Goldring | |
|---|---|
| Born |
February 11, 1888 Kenwood, New York |
| Died | January 30, 1971 (aged 82) |
| Residence | New York State |
| Nationality | American |
| Fields | Paleontology |
| Alma mater | Wellesley College |
| Known for | First woman appointed as a state paleontologist |
Winifred Goldring (February 1, 1888 – January 30, 1971), was an American paleontologist whose work included a description of stromatolites, as well as the study of Devonian crinoids. She was the first woman in the nation to be appointed as a State Paleontologist.
Goldring was born in Kenwood, New York 1888 to Frederick Goldring, an orchid specialist at the Erastus Corning estate, and Mary Grey, a local school teacher whose father was the head of the orchid that Frederick was employed. Shortly after, in 1890, Goldring, her parents and her seven sisters and one brother moved to Slingerlands, New York, so her family could operate a greenhouse business. Goldring lived here, in her childhood home, for the majority of her life (81 years). Goldring spent her live devout to her education and professional career, and as a result, she never married. She did, however, spend time learning the violin purely for her love of music.
Her journey into education began at Slingerland District school, and then after spending nine years there, she went on to The Milne School in Albany, NY in which she graduated as valedictorian in 1905. Between classes, she spent much of her free time exploring the outdoors, where she developed a love and curiosity for Lower Devonian rocks. Following this, she enrolled in Wellesley College, a school for women, with an intended major in classical languages before developing a love for science. She attained her Bachelors in 1909 and her Masters in 1912, while also obtaining graduate work at Harvard University. Finishing her education at Johns Hopkins University in 1921.
Goldring first began her career as a geology professor at her alma mater Wellesley College, and as well obtained a position at Boston's Teacher's School of Science. In 1912, Goldring went on to work for the New York state Museum as a Scientific Expert in Paleontology. At the New York State Museum, she was hired to work as a scientific expert where she specialized in invertebrate paleontological exhibits and dioramas. From here, she successfully collected and organized data from an unfinished collaborative study on Devonian Crinoids. In 1916, her boss at the New York State Museum requested her to continue work on a crinoid fossil study, which had been started but not completed by several other palaeontologists before her. She was required to finish identifying the different taxonomies of crinoid fossils. Not only was she able to complete this study in seven years, but out of the 25 families, 60 genera, and 155 species she recorded, she identified 2 new families, 18 new genera and 58 new species. Based on this evidence Goldring concluded the stumps were a new genus she chose to name Eospermatoperis. Goldring published her findings in a monograph in 1923. This was so successful that other scientists and palaeontologists sent her their own fossil samples for her to identify.
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