Marjorie O'Connell

Marjorie O'Connell Shearon (August 15, 1890 – 1974) was a palaeontologist from Newark, New Jersey. She earned a master's degree and a PhD from Columbia University. She wrote numerous scientific articles and named various species of ammonite fossils as Marjorie O'Connell, her maiden name before she married William Shearon in 1927.

Early life and education O'Connell was born in Newark, New Jersey on August 15, 1890. Her family moved to New York City when she was an infant, where she attended the Ethical Culture Fieldston School on scholarship. After 15 years, she graduated in 1908 at the age of 17. O'Connell went on to attend Barnard College, also on scholarship. At the age of 22, she went to Columbia University to study paleontology for her graduate degree. She received her Master's in 1912 and her PhD in 1916. She acted as curator in Paleontology at Columbia University between 1914 and 1916, where she lectured to graduate students. O'Connell was awarded a $1,000 Sarah Berliner Fellowship in Science for one year post-doctoral research at the American Museum of Natural History. Over the years, she held both volunteer and paid positions.

In 1918, she met Barnum Brown through the American Museum of Natural History. Shearon worked on the ammonite fossils that he brought back from Cuba. Brown was a big support to her during her breakup with Grabau, and she wrote numerous letters to him in 1920 that were mostly about her daily life and work. and she left her position with the museum following a dispute about an entry in Encyclopædia Britannica. Marjorie began a solo hike cross-country from New York City to St. Louis. She would return to New York in 1924.

Fossils research O'Connell named multiple fossils during her time in the field of paleontology. and wrote Correlation of Jurassic Formations of Western Cuba (1922) with Brown.

Life after ending her palaeontology career In 1924, she moved to New York and worked for Macy's Depositors' Account Department before resigning in 1929 following the stock market crash. She worked for the New York Opera Comique, Inc. until 1934 when the Great Depression forced them to close. Her experience working various jobs continued with positions at the State Welfare Department, the Emergency Relief Bureau, and when she moved to Washington, D.C., O'Connell began working with the WPA Bureau of Research & Statistics, then the Social Security Board's new Bureau of Research & Statistics. Marjorie was employed here from 1936 until 1941 when she resigned, citing ideological differences due to what she deemed a "socialist" movement to nationalize medicine in the United States. She started working for the Public Health Service until resigning in 1945 due to the same ideological differences. Her work against universal health insurance continued nationwide and internationally. She published a weekly newsletter American Medicine and the Political Scene, later named Challenge to Socialism from 1947 until 1966.

In 1967, she published William J. Cohen: The Pursuit of Power. One of her last notable efforts within politics at this time involved her testimony against Abe Fortas during his Supreme Court confirmation hearings, where she accused him of communist ties.