Ruth Patrick

Ruth Patrick (1907 - 2013) was an influential American botanist who pioneered environmental science and pollution control efforts. Specializing in diatoms and freshwater ecology, she developed ways to measure the health of water bodies and wetlands. From 1933 until her death, she worked at the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia. In 1948, she founded (and funded) the Patrick Center for Environmental Research (PCER) within the Academy. During her lifetime, she created numerous partnerships with industry for monitoring of water pollution and published many scientific papers and books about freshwater diatoms.

In 1933, as she neared completion of a Ph. D. in botany from the University of Virginia, she moved to Philadelphia for access to extensive Diatom Herbarium of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University, where she worked as a volunteer for four years. In 1937, she received an unpaid academic appointment as staff at the Academy and continued working full-time unpaid for another eight years.