Helen Niña Tappan Loeblich

Education Tappan Loeblich earned her Bachelor of Science in 1937 and her Master's in 1939, both in geology from the University of Oklahoma. She received the Sigma Gamma Epsilon Scholarship Award for Outstanding Senior in Geology. Her master's thesis was on mid-Cretaceous foraminifera of Oklahoma and Texas. At the University of Oklahoma, she met her future husband and long time scientific collaborator, Alfred R. Loeblich Jr, in chemistry class, in 1939. Shortly thereafter they married and spent their honeymoon doing field work with their graduate advisor, in the Arbuckle Mountains.

Tappan Loeblich became the first female professor at Tulane University's College of arts and Science in 1942, where she was then awarded a Guggenheim fellowship in 1953 which allowed her a sabbatical from the USGS appointment and where she collected the sample of foraminifera with her husband Alfred Loeblich. Tappan Loeblich continued to work part time for the USGS and in 1958, became an honorary research associate of the Smithsonian institution, and moved to California to pursue a career with the University of California, where in 1966, she became a full-time faculty member, and then the vice chairman of geology from 1973 to 1975. Her husband Alfred began work on a micropaleontological program at Chevron Oil Field Research Company.

In 1980 Tappan Loeblich published a book titled The Paleobiology of Plant Protists. The book discusses Loeblich's study of plant-like organisms known as Protists. The book delves into the fossil record of plant protists, with the book providing valuable insight into ancient environments, climate change, and the evolution of Earth through the fossilized remains of ancient protists.

The 1984 publication Suprageneric Classification of the Foraminiferida (Protozoa) refines the classification system Foraminiferida, by updating the analysis based on internal cellular structure and the influences they impact on their environment. The work was later refined by Tappan Loeblichs joint publication with her husband, Foraminiferal Genera and Their Classification.

Awards Tappan Loeblich received the Paleontological Society Medal in 1983, the Woman of the Year Award in Natural Science from the Palm Springs Desert Museum in 1987, the Raymond C. Moore Medal for “Excellence in Paleontology” in 1984, and the 1982 Woman of Science Award from the UCLA Medical Center Auxiliary.

Tappan Loeblich also worked on numerous editorial and society boards. She published a total of 272 scientific papers or books mainly with her husband. One of their most notable works was their 1957 paper “Correlation of the Gulf and Atlantic Coastal Plain Paleocene and lower Eocene formations by means of planktonic Foraminifera” which won the Best Paper Award in the Journal of Paleontology. Her book, “The Paleobiology of Plant Protists” (1980), was also voted “the best non-fiction book” for that year.

Contributions to science Tappan Loeblich became an essential figure in the paleontology community. She mentored numerous students during the time she spent teaching at UCLA. She also worked on numerous editorial and society boards.

Tappan Loeblich is also known for her books, landmark papers, articles and her scientific output, both as a sole author and collaborator. She and her husband published 272 scientific papers in their lifetimes. In 1957, they won the Best Paper Award in the Journal of Paleontology after submitting their article "Correlation of the Gulf and Atlantic Coastal Plain Paleocene and Lower Eocene formations by means of planktonic Foraminifera." She also won the Award of the Association of American Publishers for the best professional and scholarly book in the field of Geography and Earth Science, which she won in 1988 after publishing their two-volume book Foraminiferal Genera and Their Classification in 1987.

Personal life

Helen and Alfred did research in tandem for over 55 years despite the fact that they were completely the opposite. He was extravagant, resilient and candid while Helen was quiet and disciplined.

Their home was full of equipment for paleontology purposes. Tappan Loeblich was also an artist and created all the illustrations for their scientific texts and articles, bookplates for the library. She could also sew and made clothes and costumes for herself and her children. She also made doll clothes and animal hand puppets.

Tappan Loeblich excelled at cooking and cake decorating, often sharing her food with her neighbors. She and her husband wrote a cookbook of their favorite recipes in 1988. Other than those activities she also had the ability to brick patios, tiled her kitchen, hang wallpapers, build fishponds, made electrical repairs, planted trees and was involved in the Association of American Publishers Gardens.

After going through the Great Depression, Helen was always prudent. She kept the record of their expenses. Her family was never debt, she even also got into investment which helped her save up for the retirement and tuition fees of her children.

Later life and death Most of Loeblich's achievements were accomplished alongside her husband. They had four children including Karen Elizabeth Loeblich, Judith Anne Loeblich Covey, Daryl Lousie Loeblich, and finally, Alfred Richard Leoblich III, who took a doctorate in botany at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography.

Both Tappan Loeblich and her husband toured different countries including Europe, Eastern Europe, China, and Japan upon many government and university requests. When her husband was diagnosed with Alzheimer's, she retired early from UCLA in 1984 to care for her husband for him. He died of Alzheimer’s in 1994.

Loeblich developed a stroke a year after her husband’s death. She was admitted to the hospital on August 15, what would have been her husband’s 90th birthday, and died three days later August 18, 2004 in California at age 86.