American geologist and educator Florence Bascom was born #OTD in 1862.
She was the first woman to earn a Ph.D. in geology from Johns Hopkins University in 1893. Bascom's work was instrumental in mapping the geology of the mid-Atlantic Piedmont region. She was the first woman hired by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and became one of the foremost experts on the crystalline rocks of the Piedmont region.