November 5, 1970 - Death of Margaret Foster, the first woman chemist to work for the United States Geological Survey

Margaret Dorothy (‘Dot’), a science graduate with a PhD in chemistry, became the first chemist to work for the US Geological Survey in 1918.

Her duties involved developing ways to detect minerals in natural bodies of water. The methods she introduced included those for quantifying manganese, boron, fluoride, and sulfate.

In 1942, she worked on the Manhattan Project in the Chemistry and Physics Section, under the supervision of Roger C. Wells, investigating two new quantitative analysis techniques for uranium and thorium, as well as two new ways of separating the two elements.

If you want to know more about this scientist, click on the following link: Margaret Foster