Matilene Berryman

Matilene Spencer Berryman (December 8, 1920 – May 6, 2003 ) was an American oceanographer and attorney. Originally from Prince Edward County, Virginia.

Early life Berryman was born in Darlington Heights, Prince Edward County, Virginia, to parents Mary and Charles Spencer. She was the fifth of nine children. Berryman often found herself in the position of being the only woman in her school or place of work, with observers noting that Berryman “was the lone representative of her sex in a sonar engineering class of 46 students at Penn State University.”

In 1957, Berryman was a professor of marine science at the University of the District of Columbia in Washington, D.C., and served as Chair of the Department of Environmental Sciences from 1970 to 1981. Berryman was well known for her work ethic among her peers, with accounts stating, "she barely had time to organize her desk, win first place for needlework in the Centre's Home Show, and submit her first beneficial suggestion when the letter arrived".

One of Berryman's fundamental criticisms of oceanographic science institutions, in particular of 2- and 4-year universities, was a falling pace of available public education in the fields of oceanography in relation to the rapid expansion of the field.

Publications Berryman authored Lecture Notes on Underwater Sound in 1965 and Summary of Tides and Currents in 1967, both of which were published by the United States Naval Oceanographic Office. Also in 1986, Berryman reorganized part of Science of Man's Environment to publish Impact of Man on the Environment: Pollution and Radiation, which is about environmental law. Berryman wrote a paper called Tidal Energy and the Energy Crisis--An Assessment of Technology and the Interrelationship in 1979, discussing the energy crisis with a focus on tidal energy.

Family Berryman had two daughters with Samuel T. Berryman, Dr. Sherrill Berryman Johnson and D'Michelle Berryman. D'Michelle Berryman (1957–1995) worked in the marine field, was a lawyer, and an engineer. Berryman was involved with both of her children's practices and was also involved with the community through the Shiloh Baptist Church of Washington, DC.