Maria Elizabeth Fernald facts for kids

Maria Elizabeth Smith Fernald (born May 24, 1839 – died October 6, 1919) was an American scientist who studied insects. She was called an entomologist. She wrote a very important book about insects called A Catalogue of the Coccidae of the World. She also helped identify the harmful European spongy moth when it first arrived in North America.

Maria Fernald: An Insect Expert

Maria Elizabeth Smith was born on May 24, 1839, in Monmouth, Maine. Her parents were Ebenezer and Betsy Smith. She went to the Maine Wesleyan Seminary and Female College. She was part of the very first group of students to graduate from that school. After graduating, she even worked there as a teacher for a while.

Early Life and Family

In 1863, Maria married Charles H. Fernald. He was also an entomologist, meaning he studied insects. Maria had even taught him music! They had a son named Henry Torsey Fernald, who also grew up to become an insect scientist.

Maria became interested in studying insects because of her husband. In the 1870s, she started learning about them. She would collect insects for her husband around Maine State College in Orono, where he was teaching at the time. This was how she began her journey into the world of entomology.

Her Amazing Career in Entomology

Maria Fernald became a very skilled and respected entomologist. She was an expert on certain families of insects, especially the Coccidae (which are scale insects), Tortricidae (also known as leafroller moths), and Tineidae (a type of moth). At a time when almost all scientists in this field were men, Maria was one of only a few women.

Creating a Key Insect Catalogue

In the late 1870s, she started working on a huge list, or "catalogue," of the Tortricidae moths. Later, she decided to include all kinds of North American insects in her work. A big part of this project was published in 1903. It was called A Catalogue of the Coccidae of the World.

This book was a "gigantic piece of work," as one expert described it. It listed more than 1,500 different species of insects. It became a super important reference book as the study of insects grew rapidly. The book was especially helpful for scientists who were researching scale insects. These tiny insects can cause a lot of damage to farm crops. Maria's book was still used as a classic text many decades after she passed away.

Fighting the Spongy Moth

Around 1886, Maria and Charles Fernald moved to Amherst, Massachusetts. Charles became a professor at Massachusetts Agricultural College. He was also put in charge of the new Massachusetts Agricultural Experiment Station. Just three years later, a big problem started. The European spongy moth began to spread rapidly. This was the first major outbreak since the insect had arrived in North America about 20 years earlier.

Maria had taken over the insect work at the Experiment Station when Charles was away. Because she knew so much about Lepidoptera (moths and butterflies), she was able to quickly identify the caterpillars causing the damage. Her quick identification was key to helping control the spread of this harmful insect.

Maria Fernald passed away on October 6, 1919.