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Alice Evelyn Wilson, 1881-1964
First Woman Geologist Left her Mark in Stone

Alice Wilson was a fossil fanatic. Collecting rocks and fossils was not just a hobby it was a lifelong passion and profession.

Born on August 26, 1881 in Cobourg Ontario, Alice developed an early passion for fossils. She spent childhood summers with her two brothers searching the local limestone outcrops for rocks and fossils.

In an era when job choices for women were limited to teaching school, Alice pursued a career in the male-dominated world of science. Rising above her own health challenges, and working against formidable social and professional odds, she became the first woman geologist with the Geological Survey of Canada (GSC). Alice succeeded in becoming a highly respected expert in the field of paleontology.

Alice was tenacious about working as a geologist in the field. But in the early 1900s, it was considered inappropriate for a woman to camp out with a group of men on remote sites. Instead, she was relegated to local fieldwork in the Ottawa St. Lawrence lowlands.

Throughout her career, Alice never allowed her ill health and frail constitution to hold her back. Colleagues claimed she rode all over Ottawa on her bicycle studying rocks. Incredibly, she succeeded in mapping more than 16,000 square kilometres.

Alice enrolled in modern languages at Victoria University in Cobourg in 1901, but ill health interrupted her studies. When she recuperated, she decided to follow her first love geology and worked as an assistant at the University of Toronto's mineralogy division.

Eight years later, Alice was hired as a temporary clerk in the invertebrate paleontology section of the GSC. She catalogued, arranged and labelled the collection for the Victoria Memorial Museum in Ottawa, now the Museum of Nature all of this for $800 per year. She was promoted to Museum Assistant in 1911 after finishing in BA the first woman to hold a professional position at the Survey. Her salary was increased to $850 per year.

Alice became Assistant Paleontologist in 1919. In recognition, the Canadian Federation of University Women (CFUW) awarded her a scholarship to undertake graduate studies. Her fight for a leave of absence lasted so many years that CFUW went to bat for her, even appealing to Cabinet members.

Finally, seven years later, the GSC granted her leave. Alice obtained her doctorate in geology from the University of Chicago in 1929 at age 48.

When she returned to the GSC with her PhD, she was not given a pay increase, as was the common practice. It was not until 1945, the year before she retired, that she was addressed with the well-earned title of "Dr."

Alice officially retired in 1946 at age 65. Five people were hired to replace her.

Alice kept her office at the GSC, continuing to visit daily and carry out fieldwork. In late 1963, at 82, she gave up her office. The Survey's director, James M. Harrison, tried to dissuade her but she told him that her "work was done."

She died several months later on April 15, 1964.

Alice Wilson persevered in her lifelong struggle to succeed in a scientific field dominated by men. She made it possible, by example, for other women to work in science-related professions.

Alice's extensive research of the sediments and fossils of the Ottawa St. Lawrence lowlands enriched our knowledge of these regions. The important information she gathered on the geology and paleontology of the area around Cornwall, Ontario, was vital for the planning and construction of the St. Lawrence Seaway.

Alice was a mentor, a teacher, and an inspiration to many protegés. She shared her love of geology and her expertise with the general public, especially children, in many different ways from writing a children's geology textbook to becoming a sessional lecturer at Carleton University.

• 1911 First woman to hold a professional position at the Geological Survey of Canada
• 1929 Earned a doctorate in geology. First woman geologist in Canada and at the Geological Survey of Canada
• 1935 Awarded an Order of the British Empire
• 1936 First Canadian woman admitted into the Geological Society of America
• 1938 First woman fellow in the Royal Society of Canada
• 1947 Published a geology textbook for children, The Earth Beneath Our Feet
• 1959 Celebrated her 50th anniversary with the GSC
• 1960 Received an honourary Doctor of Laws from Carleton University

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