The Education and Career of Carlotta J. Maury: Part 2

Carlotta Joachina Maury (1874-1938) was an American paleontologist who specialized in Tertiary mollusks. She was involved in explorations for the oil industry as well as teaching and museum work. The second part of this biographical narrative traces the latter part of her career and her involvement in a serious conflict with her mentor and friend at Cornell University, Gilbert Harris (1864-1952). It was an early case of the conflicts of interest that can arise between public academic research and that of commercial companies. Maury's later work went largely unrecognized in the United States. Some of her research, for oil companies, was confidential and most of it was based on fossil material from the Caribbean and South America. In her extensive work for the Geological Survey of Brazil, her research interests extended beyond Tertiary mollusks to studies of the Cretaceous and to a wider range of fossil flora and fauna. The present paper is a sequel to Part 1, published in Earth Sciences History, Vol. 28 No. 2, 2009.