Ethel Skeat facts for kids

Ethel Gertrude Skeat (1865–1939), also known as Ethel Woods, was an amazing English scientist. She was a geologist, a paleontologist (someone who studies ancient life like fossils), and a stratigrapher (someone who studies layers of rock). Ethel is famous for her work on ancient ice age deposits from the Jurassic period in Denmark. She also studied very old rocks from the Paleozoic era in Wales. With her friend and fellow scientist, Margaret Crosfield, Ethel helped us understand the geological history of northeast Wales much better. She also wrote several books about geology.

About Ethel Skeat

Early Life and Family

Ethel Gertrude Skeat was born on May 14, 1865. She was one of five children. Her parents were Bertha (Jones) Skeat and Walter William Skeat. Her father was a professor at Cambridge University who studied old English languages. Ethel's brother, Walter, also became a scientist, studying different cultures as an anthropologist.

Education and Learning

Ethel was taught at home until she was 25 years old. Then, she went to Newnham College in Cambridge. This is where she met two important people: her future science partner, Margaret Crosfield, and her future husband, Henry Woods. Henry was also a geologist, and they got married in 1910.

While she was still a student, Ethel joined the Geologists' Union. In 1894, she earned a top grade in her science studies, showing how smart she was.

From 1895 to 1897, Ethel won a special scholarship for her skills in natural sciences. She used this award to travel to Munich, Germany. There, she became the first woman to study with a famous paleontologist named Karl Alfred von Zittel. During her time in Germany, she worked on studying ancient rocks and fossils from the Jurassic period found in Denmark. These rocks were left behind by glaciers. After her studies abroad, she became an Associate of Newnham College.

In 1905, Ethel received a Doctor of Science (D.Sc.) degree from Trinity College Dublin. This important degree was given to her because of her great contributions to geological research.

Teaching and Later Career

For over ten years, from 1898 to 1910, Ethel taught science at different high schools. She taught first in Penwarth, Wales, and then in Chester, England. In 1911, she became a lecturer at the Cambridge Training Institute for Women. She taught there for two years. After World War I, she returned to teach there again for another twenty years. During the war, because she knew German, she helped the Post Office by working in the censorship department.

Ethel's Geological Discoveries

Studying Rocks in Wales and Denmark

While she was still at Newnham College, Ethel worked with Margaret Crosfield on her first published paper. This paper, written in 1896, was about the layers of rock (stratigraphy) in the Carmarthen area of Wales.

Later, she published two more papers (in 1898 and 1904) about rocks from the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods. These rocks were found in Denmark and East Greenland. The first of these papers was written with a Danish geologist named Victor Madsen.

Awards and Recognition

In 1908, Ethel made history. She became the first English woman to win the Murchison Fund. This award is given by the Geological Society of London to honor important geological work. Ethel received it for her amazing studies in Denmark and Wales.

In 1925, she worked with Margaret Crosfield again. They wrote a paper about the Silurian rock layers in the Clwydian Range in northeast Wales.

Books on Geology

Later in her career, Ethel wrote several books about geology. These included Principles of Geology: Physical and Human (published in 1923) and The Baltic Region (published in 1932).

Ethel became ill in the middle of 1938 and passed away on January 26, 1939, in Meldreth, England.