Creese, Mary R.S. 1935- (Mary Rose Stewart Weir Creese)

PERSONAL:

Born December 22, 1935, in Orkney, Scotland; daughter of Walter George (a minister) and Annie (an elementary schoolteacher) Weir; married Thomas Creese (a professor of mathematics), July 5, 1964; children: Anna E.S., Catherine S.K. Ethnicity: "Native Scottish." Education: University of Glasgow, B.Sc. (with first-class honors), 1967; University of California, Berkeley, Ph.D., 1961. Hobbies and other interests: Gardening.

ADDRESSES:

Home—Lawrence, KS. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER:

University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, research associate in chemistry, 1961-62; University of Alberta, Calgary, Alberta, Canada, assistant professor of chemistry, 1962-64; Kansas State University, Manhattan, research associate in chemistry, 1964-65; University of Kansas, Lawrence, research assistant in medicinal chemistry, 1966-89, research assistant in history of science, 1989-91; writer, 1991—.

AWARDS, HONORS:

Cited for outstanding academic book in the history of science and technology, Choice, 1998, for Ladies in the Laboratory? American and British Women in Science, 1800-1900: A Survey of Their Contributions to Research.

WRITINGS:

(With husband, Thomas M. Creese) Ladies in the Laboratory? American and British Women in Science, 1800-1900: A Survey of Their Contributions to Research, Scarecrow Press (Lanham, MD), 1998.

(With Thomas M. Creese) Ladies in the Laboratory II: West European Women in Science, 1800-1900; A Survey of Their Contributions to Research, Scarecrow Press (Lanham, MD), 2004.

Contributor to reference books. Contributor of articles and reviews to periodicals, including Endeavour.

SIDELIGHTS:

Mary R.S. Creese told CA: "In the late 1980s, when I first became interested in the contributions of nineteenth-century women to scientific research, the field, now a recognized subdivision of the history of science, was still in its infancy. A tremendous amount of material lay waiting to be examined, interpreted, and brought to light. My initial systematic reading of major catalogues of nineteenth-century literature very quickly produced names of now-forgotten women scientists; I was eager to find out as much as I could about them. Since then I have become more and more immersed in this field that is a combination of research and biographical writing—research into a largely forgotten part of the past that offers a glimpse into the lives of some fascinating, at times very colorful, women who pioneered women's entry into modern scientific research two or three generations ago. Over the last decade or so I have been invited to contribute to more and more projects, such as essay collections and national biographical dictionaries.

"In recent years both social historians and women's history specialists have made many contributions to the history of women in science, bringing their own distinctive approaches to the field. However, more input from writers with extensive scientific background is also needed before a realistic and balanced picture can be achieved. (For example, it is difficult to evaluate the research output of a productive past marine biologist without knowing something about her specialty—no small matter.) Coming from a science research background, I hope to help overcome such difficulties."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Choice, October, 1998, M.H. Chaplin, review of Ladies in the Laboratory? American and British Women in Science, 1800-1900: A Survey of Their Contributions to Research; November, 2004, M.H. Chaplin, review of Ladies in the Laboratory II: West European Women in Science, 1800-1900; A Survey of Their Contributions to Research.

Reference and User Services Quarterly, Volume 38, number 2, 1998, Laurel E. Duda, review of Ladies in the Laboratory? American and British Women in Science, 1800-1900, p. 201.