Eugenie Clark facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Eugenie Clark
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| Shark Lady | |
Eugenie Clark in 2014
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| Born | May 4, 1922 |
| Died | February 25, 2015 (aged 92) |
| Nationality | American |
| Alma mater | Hunter College (B.A.) New York University (M.A.), (Ph.D.) |
| Spouse(s) |
Jideo Umaki
(m. 1942; div. 1947)Ilias Themistokles Konstantinu
(m. 1950; div. 1967)Chandler Brossard
(m. 1967; div. 1969)Igor Klatzo
(m. 1970; div. 1970)Henry Yoshinobu Kon
(m. 1997; died 2000) |
| Children | Hera, Aya, Themistokles, and Nikolas |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Ichthyology |
| Institutions | Mote Marine Laboratory University of Maryland, College Park |
Eugenie Clark (May 4, 1922 – February 25, 2015) was an amazing American scientist. She was known as The Shark Lady. Eugenie studied fish, especially sharks and pufferfish. She was a pioneer in using scuba diving for her research. People saw her as an expert in marine biology. She used her fame to help protect ocean life.
Contents
Early Life & Schooling
Eugenie Clark grew up in New York City. Her father passed away when she was very young. Her mother later married Masatomo Nobu, who owned a Japanese restaurant.
Eugenie went to elementary and high school in Queens, New York. She was the only student of Japanese descent in her schools.
From a young age, Eugenie loved marine science. She wrote many school reports about ocean animals. A visit to the New York Aquarium made her want to go back every Saturday. She was fascinated by the creatures there. The work of naturalist William Beebe also inspired her to become an oceanographer.
Becoming a Scientist
Eugenie Clark earned her first degree in zoology from Hunter College in 1942. During her summers, she studied at the University of Michigan Biological Station.
She wanted to go to graduate school at Columbia University. But they worried she would leave science to raise children. This did not stop her! Eugenie went on to earn two more degrees from New York University. She got her Master of Arts in 1946 and her Doctorate in Zoology in 1950.
During her studies, Eugenie did research at many famous places. These included the Scripps Institution of Oceanography and the American Museum of Natural History. She also worked at the Woods Hole Marine Biological Laboratory.
In 1949, Eugenie studied fish populations in Micronesia. This was part of a special program. She visited places like Guam, the Marshall Islands, and Palau. After her doctorate, she received a Fulbright Scholarship. This allowed her to study fish in Egypt, on the Red Sea coast.
Eugenie wrote about these adventures in her first book, Lady with a Spear (1953). The book was very popular.
Starting a Marine Lab
Anne and William H. Vanderbilt loved Eugenie's book. They invited her to speak in Florida in 1954. Eugenie talked about the fish she saw in the Red Sea. People there realized they had similar fish in their local waters. They wanted to learn more.
So, the Vanderbilts built a lab for Eugenie. It was called the Cape Haze Marine Laboratory in 1955.
Work at Cape Haze
At Cape Haze, Eugenie worked with a local fisherman, Beryl Chadwick. He was skilled at catching sharks. He was her only helper at first. Soon, other scientists wanted to study at Cape Haze. Requests for shark research came from all over the world.
One famous scientist who visited was Sylvia Earle. She was studying algae at the time. Sylvia helped Eugenie create a collection of plant specimens.
Eugenie did many experiments on sharks and other fish at Cape Haze. She often went scuba diving in the local waters. She used special glass jars to bring unknown fish back to the lab.
The Cape Haze Laboratory moved to Siesta Key, Florida, in 1960. Scientists from places like the Dow Chemical Company continued to visit.
In 1962, Eugenie joined an expedition to the Red Sea. She studied sharks and other large ocean animals.
In 1966, Eugenie left Cape Haze to teach at the City University of New York. In 1968, she became a teacher at the University of Maryland, College Park. She received many awards there. Eugenie officially retired in 1999. But she still taught a class each semester for several years.
Eugenie returned to the Cape Haze Laboratory, now called the Mote Marine Laboratory, in 2000. She worked there as a Senior Scientist until she passed away. She died in Sarasota, Florida, from lung cancer on February 25, 2015. Eugenie was an active researcher and diver her whole life. She did her last dive in 2014. She published the results in January 2015, just before her death.
Amazing Discoveries & Legacy
The Shark Lady, Eugenie Clark, wrote two books. They were Lady with a Spear (1953) and The Lady and the Sharks (1969). She also wrote over 175 scientific articles.
Eugenie strongly supported protecting the ocean. She used her popular writings and public talks to change ideas about sharks. She wanted people to understand sharks better. This helped prevent sharks from being killed. It also encouraged people to protect ocean environments.
Her work showed that she was the first person to train sharks to press targets. She was also the first scientist to create "test tube" babies in female fish. She discovered that the Moses sole fish makes a natural shark repellent. This repellent has been used to help prevent sharks from harming humans.
Eugenie saw many "sleeping" sharks during her dives. This helped prove that sharks do not need to move to breathe. Over her many years of research, Eugenie did over 70 dives in special underwater vehicles. She led more than 200 research trips around the world. She worked on 24 TV specials and helped make the first IMAX film.
Awards and Honors
Eugenie Clark received three honorary science degrees. She was inducted into the Florida Women's Hall of Fame and the Maryland Women's Hall of Fame. In 1987, she received the NOGI Award for Science. This is a very important award in the diving world.
She also received honors from the National Geographic Society and The Explorers Club. In 1975, she received the Gold Medal from the international Society of Woman Geographers. This was for her studies of shark reproduction and behavior. Many books have been written about her, including The Shark Lady by Ann McGovern.
Several fish species have been named in her honor:
- Callogobius clarki
- Sticharium clarkae
- Enneapterygius clarkae
- Atrobucca geniae
- Squalus clarkae, also known as Genie's dogfish.
The U.S. Post Office even has a stamp honoring her, released in 2022.
See also
In Spanish: Eugenie Clark para niños
