Frances Lawrence Parker

Frances Lawrence Parker (28 March 1906 – 2002) was an American geologist and micropaleontologist focusing on paleoceanography and micropaleontology. She is known for her research on benthic and planktonic foraminifera.

Life and education Frances Lawrence Parker was born on March 28, 1906, in Brookline, Massachusetts. She was the fourth child of Philip Stanley Parker and Eleanor Payson Parker.

Parker attended Vassar College. She graduated in 1928 with a bachelor's degree in geology and a minor in chemistry. Vassar College was one of few institutions that offered science courses for women at the time. Parker participated in geological field studies in Wyoming, focusing on glacial geology, accompanied by geologist Thomas McDougall Hills.

In 1930, Parker graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology with a master's degree in geology.

Awards and honors Parker has been recognized as an influential researcher, earning the Cushman Award for Outstanding Achievement in Foraminiferal Research in 1981.

The Parker Bank, located on the Louisiana Shelf in the Gulf of Mexico was named in Parker's honor in 1976 by the US Geological Society.

The foraminifera Neoconorbina parkerae is named to honor Parker.

Published books

Ecology of Foraminifera from San Antonio Bay and Environs, Southwest Texas The Clinch River Study: An Investigation of the Fate of Radionuclides