Ruth Myrtle Patrick was an American botanist and limnologist specializing in diatoms and freshwaterecology. She authored more than 200 scientific papers, developed ways to measure the health of freshwater ecosystems and established numerous research facilities.
Early life and education
Ruth Patrick was the daughter of Frank Patrick, a banker, and lawyer. Frank had a degree in botany from Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, and was a hobbyist scientist. He often took Ruth and her sister on Sunday afternoons to collect specimens, especially diatoms, from streams. This sparked a lifelong interest in diatoms and ecology. Ruth Patrick recalls that she "collected everything: worms, mushrooms, plants, rocks. I remember the feeling I got when my father would roll back the top of his big desk in the library and roll out the microscope... it was miraculous, looking through a window at the whole other world." Ruth attended the Sunset Hill School in Kansas City, Missouri, graduating in 1925. Ruth's mother insisted that she attend Coker College, a women's school in Hartsville, South Carolina, but her father arranged for her to attend summer courses, through fear that Coker would not provide satisfactory education in the sciences. When she graduated in 1929, she then enrolled in the University of Virginia, earning a master's degree in 1931, followed by a Ph.D. in 1934.
Career
Ruth Patrick's research in fossilized diatoms showed that the Great Dismal Swamp between Virginia and North Carolina was once a forest, which had been flooded by seawater. Similar research proved that the Great Salt Lake was not always a saline lake. During the Great Depression, she volunteered to work as a curator of microscopy for the Academy of Natural Sciences, where she worked for no pay for eight years. She was payrolled in 1945. In 1947, she formed and chaired the academy's Department of Limnology. She continued to work there for many years and was regarded as a talented and outstanding scientific administrator, in addition to her other scientific contributions. Patrick's work on the Great Salt Lake in the 1930s used the history of diatoms in the sediments of the lake to prove the lake was once a freshwater body of water, and established some solid clues as to what caused the shift to saltwater. In 1945 she invented the diatometer, a device to take better samples for studying diversity in water ecology. Patrick was a pioneer in the use of biodiversity to determine a body of water's overall health. Her work with both academics and industry giants like DuPont fostered an understanding of pollutants and their effect on rivers, lakes, and drinking water sources. Dr Patrick was a tireless advocate for clean water, including helping develop the guidelines for the US Congress Clean Water Act. President Lyndon B. Johnson sought her expertise on water pollution, and President Ronald Regan asked for her input on acid rain.
Awards and Honours
Her work has been widely published and she has received numerous awards for her scientific achievements. A complete list is available on her institutional page. Highlights include:
Patrick was married twice. She retained her maiden name when writing scientific papers, at her father's request. Her husbands were Charles Hodge IV and Lewis H. Van Dusen Jr. With Charles Hodge IV she had one son. Charles was an entomologist and a direct descendant of Benjamin Franklin. Patrick died at a retirement home in 2013. She was 105. As a tribute to her father and her childhood in Kansas City, Missouri, Dr. Patrick left most of her library to the Linda Hall Library at her death. These books focus on microscopy and microscopical observations.
