Easter Ellen Cupp

Easter Ellen Cupp (March 30, 1904 – August 27, 1999) was the first woman to get a Ph.D. in oceanography from Scripps Institution of Oceanography. She is known for her work on diatoms.

Early life Cupp was born on March 30, 1904, which was the day Easter holiday is celebrated, in Neola, Iowa.

Education In 1910 she moved to Whittier, California where she would later attend college. Cupp received an undergraduate degree from Whittier College (1926), where she received a master's degree from the University of California (1928). From 1929 until 1934 she worked as a research assistant at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography. Oceanography was a new degree at the time, and Cupp was one of only five people with a Ph.D. in oceanography at the time.

Career Cupp both conducted research at Scripps and taught classes in phytoplankton ecology with W.E. Allen who had been her graduate advisor. The director of Scripps, Harald Sverdrup, had positive reviews of Cupp's work, but in 1939 he fired Cupp because he decided her research did not match the research goals of the institution. Sverdrup replaced Cupp with Marston Sargent who had arrived at Scripps a year earlier.

Later life After Scripps, Cupp worked with the Navy from 1940 until 1943, She retired from teaching in 1967.

Research Cupp is known for her research on diatoms, and she published a guide to diatoms found in the western United States, and other locations. She published works on different diatoms species she encountered in her investigations. Cupp was also known for her illustrations and collaborated with others on works requiring illustrations.

Selected publications