Susan Finnegan (b. 1903) was a British zoologist, who specialised in the study of mites and ticks. She was the first woman appointed to a scientific post at the Natural History Museum, London, in 1927, and was the first woman to describe and name a new genus of scorpion, Apistobuthus. Two species of scorpion have been named in her honour.[1] Finnegan was required to resign her post at the Natural History Museum in 1936, in order to marry her fellow museum worker Walter Campbell Smith.[2][3]
Susan Finnegan FLS | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1903 |
| Alma mater | University of Cambridge (PhD) |
| Known for | Work on acari, spiders and scorpions |
| Spouse | Walter Campbell Smith (m. 1936) |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Zoology |
| Institutions | British Museum (Natural History) |
| Thesis | Report on the Brachyura collected by the S.Y. 'St George' on the east and west coasts of Central America (PhD) (1930) |
Career
editFinnegan was born in 1903. She studied at university, graduating with a BSc, and was awarded a PhD from the University of Cambridge in 1930, with a thesis on crabs collected by Cyril Crossland on the St George expedition to the Pacific in 1924.[4] She published this work in 1931.[5]
In July 1927, she was appointed assistant keeper in the department of zoology at the Natural History Museum,[6] where she was head of the arachnids section from September 1927 to July 1936. She was the first woman appointed to a post at the Natural History Museum, London.[1] In this role, she worked extensively on the acari (mites and ticks), as well as on spiders and scorpions. She published a number of scientific papers on these topics, including the description of three new species of mites that she found on spiders, snakes and sea lions.[7][8][9][10] She gave regular public talks on spiders and scorpions on Sunday afternoons at the Natural History Museum.[11][12]
Finnegan was elected a Fellow of the Linnean Society in 1928.[13]
New genus of scorpion
editIn 1932, Finnegan described three specimens of a new scorpion that had been collected by the British explorer Bertram Thomas from the Rub' al-Khali in the southern Arabian peninsula. She recognised that these specimens all had a unique disc-shaped abdominal segment, not previously seen in scorpions, and assigned these specimens to a new genus Apistobuthus. It transpired that all three of the specimens were immature, and it wasn't until 1960 that an adult female scorpion of this genus was described, from specimens collected by Wilfred Thesiger in Wadi Andhur, Oman.[1][14] Finnegan was the first female scientist to describe a new genus of scorpion. In recognition of her contributions to the study of scorpions, Finnegan has had two scorpions named in her honour, Hottentotta finneganae,[15] and Apistobuthis susanae.[16][1]
Marriage and family
editFinnegan married Walter Campbell Smith in 1936. Campbell Smith worked in the department of mineralogy of the museum, and Finnegan was required to resign her post in order to marry, as a consequence of the Civil Service marriage bar that was then in place for women in the UK.[17][2][3][18] Finnegan continued to use her maiden name in professional circles after marrying.[19][20] Finnegan had a son and daughter, and seven grandchildren. Finnegan's husband died in 1988 at the age of 101.[21]
References
edit- ^ a b c d Navidpour, Shahrokh; Lowe, Graeme (2009). "Revised Diagnosis and Redescription of Apistobuthus susanae (Scorpiones, Buthidae)". The Journal of Arachnology. 37 (1): 45–59. doi:10.1636/H08-44.1. JSTOR 40233839 – via JSTOR.
- ^ a b "British Museum (Natural History): Department of Zoology: Arachnida Section: Correspondence".
- ^ a b Wyse Jackson, Patrick N.; Spencer Jones, Mary E. (2007). "The quiet workforce: the various roles of women in geological and natural history museums during the early to mid-1900s". Geological Society,London, Special Publications. 281: 97–113. doi:10.1144/SP281.60305-8719/07/.
- ^ Rosie, Heather (2023). "UK Doctoral Thesis Metadata from EThOS" – via British Library.
- ^ Finnegan, Susan (November 5, 1931). "Report on the Brachyura collected in Central America, the Gorgona and Galapagos Islands, by Dr. Crossland on the ' St. George ' Expedition to the Pacific, 1924-25". Journal of the Linnean Society of London, Zoology. 37 (255): 607–673. doi:10.1111/j.1096-3642.1931.tb02367.x.
- ^ "Page 4340 | Issue 33291, 5 July 1927 | London Gazette | The Gazette". www.thegazette.co.uk.
- ^ Finnegan, Susan (August 5, 1935). "Rarity of the Archaic Arachnids, Podogona (Ricinulei)". Nature. 136 (3431): 186. Bibcode:1935Natur.136..186F. doi:10.1038/136186b0 – via www.nature.com.
- ^ Finnegan, Susan (June 5, 1933). "25. A new Species of Mite parasitic on the Spider Liphistius malayanus Abraham, from Malaya". Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London. 103 (2): 413–417. doi:10.1111/j.1096-3642.1933.tb01603.x – via CrossRef.
- ^ Finnegan, Susan (December 5, 1931). "64. On a new Species of Mite of the Family Heterozerconidæ parasitic on a Snake". Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London. 101 (4): 1349–1357. doi:10.1111/j.1096-3642.1931.tb01066.x – via CrossRef.
- ^ Finnegan, S. (1934). "On a new species of mite of the family Halarachnidae from the Southern sea lion". Discovery Reports. 8: 319–328.
- ^ "Forthcoming Events". Nature. 135 (3402): 80. January 1, 1935. Bibcode:1935Natur.135Q..80.. doi:10.1038/135080a0 – via www.nature.com.
- ^ "Societies and Academies". Nature. 136 (3441): 616–617. October 1, 1935. Bibcode:1935Natur.136R.616.. doi:10.1038/136616b0 – via www.nature.com.
- ^ "Search Results". www2.calmview.co.uk.
- ^ Finnegan, Susan (1932). "Report on the Scorpions collected by Mr. Bertram Thomas in Arabia". Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. 38 (258): 91–98. doi:10.1111/j.1096-3642.1932.tb00695.x..
- ^ Kovafik, F (2007). "A revision of the genus Hottentotta Birula, 1908, with descriptions of four new species (Scorpiones, Buthidae)". Euscorpius. 2007 (58): 1–107. doi:10.18590/euscorpius.2007.vol2007.iss58.1.
- ^ Lourenco, Wilson R. (1998). "A new species of Apistobuthus Finnegan, 1932 (Chelicerata, Scorpiones, Buthidae) from Iran" (PDF). Entomologische Mitteilungen aus dem Zoologischen Museum Hamburg. 12: 237–244.
- ^ "Women in the Civil Service - History" – via www.civilservant.org.uk.
- ^ Hill, Kate (2016). Inside the museum: including or excluding women?', Women and Museums 1850-1914: Modernity and the Gendering of Knowledge. Manchester Scholarship Online. Retrieved 11 November 2024.
- ^ Finnegan, Susan (1946). "Obituary. Dr A C Oudemans" (PDF). Nature. 157: 326–327. doi:10.1038/157326a0.
- ^ Finnegan, Susan (1945). Acari as agents transmitting typhus in India, Australasia and the Far East. Economic Series, British Museum (Natural History). p. 78.
- ^ "Dr Walter Campbell Smith (1887-1988) an appreciation" (PDF). Journal of Gemmology. 21: 517–518. 1989.