Ruth Patrick

Ruth Myrtle Patrick (b. 1907–d. 2013) was an American scientist whose singular focus on diatoms and their potential to diagnose aquatic ecosystem status made her a titan among scientists. Patrick’s body of work spans seventy-four years, with nearly two hundred publications. Patrick was born and grew up in Topeka, Kansas. She attended Coker College in South Carolina, earning her bachelor’s degree in 1929. She then moved to the University of Virginia for graduate school. In addition, she spent considerable time at Cold Spring Harbor, New York. Following her completion of graduate school, she found a position with the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. This would be her professional home for the duration of her career. While at the academy, Patrick founded the Department of Limnology and expanded its preeminent collection of diatom flora from across the world and launched the use of diatoms as a group of organisms capable of bioassessment of water bodies. This extensive study of diatoms in freshwater habitats has firmly established Patrick as an international authority on freshwater diatom taxonomy, biodiversity, and ecology. Her work here forged new paths in freshwater science and helped it emerge as a critical discipline.