Eileen Guppy

Eileen Mary Guppy MBE (24 May 1903 – 8 March 1980) was a British geologist, petrologist, and analytical chemist. She was the first female geologist appointed to the scientific staff of the Geological Survey of Great Britain. In 1966, after 39 years of service, Guppy became the first female staff member of the survey to be appointed MBE.

Education and early career

Guppy began studying at Bedford College in London in 1920. She graduated with honours in 1923 with a Bachelor of Science in Geology. For the next two years, she worked as a research assistant to Leonard Hawkes at Bedford College and published the paper A Composite Dyke from Eastern Iceland in the Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society of London. The article overviewed an Icelandic dyke and its composition, making insightful observations about its makeup.

In 1935, Guppy organised the move of the petrological rock and thin section collections from the old Museum of Practical Geology on Jermyn Street to the new Geological Museum on Exhibition Road, London.

During World War II, many women took on roles left absent by men who had been called up for military service. In 1943, Guppy was promoted to the rank of assistant geologist, becoming the first female geology graduate to be appointed to the scientific staff of the Survey.

Guppy later became a secretary for the new Atomic Energy Division, and worked with inspectors from the Public Record Office between 1963 and 1965 evaluating older records from the British Geological Survey and Museum. On her retirement in 1966, Guppy was appointed MBE for her service of more than 39 years. She was the first female member of staff to be recognized in this way. During 43-year-long career, she was only officially recognized as a geologist for three of them. Few of her contributions to various British Geological Survey publications have credit attributed to her. and 1956. She published the book Rock Wool with James Phemister in 1945, with a second edition released in 1949.

A Composite Dyke from Eastern Iceland

With geologist Leonard Hawkes, Guppy conducted a case study of the composite dykes in eastern Iceland in 1924. While Hawkes conducted the field work, Guppy played a crucial role in analysing and interpreting the commonly occurring composite dykes in the tertiary plateau-basalt series of the respective area studied. The overruling findings are as follows: the exposed dyke is seen to be composed of basic and acidic rocks, as well as seven members - the dolerites alternating in the quartz-porphyries. The studied dyke is exposed in cliff-section at Hökulvikurgil, Breithdal. Guppy and Hawkes deciphered the sequence of intrusions in the composite dyke, analysed the origin of quartz and felspar-xenocrysts in the dolerites, and described the mafic inclusions in the acidic rocks. In 1975 this law changed with the introduction of the Sex Discrimination Act 1975.

Little is known of Guppy's personal life, beyond her career as a geologist, petrologist, and analytical chemist.

Impact Guppy was the first female geologist to be appointed to the scientific staff of the British Geological Survey, paving the way for other women in the institution.

In 2026, Guppy was formally recognised by the Mineralogical Society of Great Britain and Ireland, who named the 'Eileen Guppy Technicians' Award' in her honour, in recognition of the service provided by technical staff and experimental officers to the disciplines of mineralogy, and earth sciences.