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Rachel Bodley

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Rachel Bodley
BornDecember 7, 1831
Cincinnati, Ohio
DiedJune 15, 1888 (age 56)
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
NationalityAmerican
Occupation(s)University teaching and leadership

Rachel Littler Bodley (December 7, 1831 – June 15, 1888) was an American professor, botanist, and university leader. She was best known for her term as Dean of the Woman's Medical College of Pennsylvania (1874–1888).

Life

Early Life and Education

Bodley was born December 7, 1831 in Cincinnati, Ohio. She was the eldest daughter of the Presbyterian carpenter and pattern maker Anthony Prichard Bodley, of Scotch-Irish descent, and teacher Rebecca Wilson Bodley (née Talbott), of English Quaker descent. Bodley was named after her maternal grandmother, Rachel Littler Talbott; she was raised Presbyterian, as were her two older brothers and two younger sisters[1]. She completed her primary education by age 12 at the private school her mother ran. In 1848 she entered the Wesleyan Female College in Cincinnati and graduated at age 17 in 1849. During her studies, she stood out for her work in the college's literary society.[2]

Career and Further Education

She was selected as an assistant teacher at Wesleyan after her graduation and rose to the role of preceptress in the higher collegiate studies.[3] Though she was lauded for her work at Wesleyan, she was not content with her achievements there and decided to pursue further education.[3] In 1860, she begun studying advanced chemistry and physics at the Polytechnic College of Pennsylvania, then the foremost institution of the applied sciences in the US.[3] During this time, she also studied practical anatomy and physiology at the Woman's Medical College of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, which she would finish later in her career.

In 1862, Bodley returned to teaching as a professor of natural sciences at the Cincinnati Female Seminary. She made extensive effort in the organization and arrangement of an herbarium which had been donated to the Seminary by the heirs of Joseph Clark (1823-1858), a resident of Cincinnati. It was an extensive collection of local flora, and the guide to the collection which Bodley compiled, Catalogue of Plants Contained in Herbarium of Joseph Clark, printed in 1865, also served as a guide to plants for students and travelers in the Cincinnati area[4]. Bodley assembled this work in her free time from 1862 to 1865. It was the first record of Ohio flora prepared by a woman and her most significant work in botany; her work was later congratulated by Asa Gray, the premier American botanist of the 18th century, as a "very satisfactory contribution to science".[5] She later studied many strange plants including Venus flytrap, Lily of the valley, Snowdrops, dwarf hose chestnut, and Alpine sandwort.[6] During her tenure at the Seminary, Bodley continued private study in higher mathematics, microscopy, phonography, elocution, music, French, German, and drawing.

In 1865, she left the Cincinnati Female Seminary to become the Chair of Chemistry and Toxicology at the Woman's Medical College of Pennsylvania, where she would spend the rest of her career. She was the first woman to hold the title Professor of Chemistry at a medical school, the first female chemist on the faculty, and the first faculty member appointed from outside Philadelphia.[4] Bodley brought a science-focused approach to teaching her students in medicine, emphasizing the science of medicine rather than the art of medicine. Bodley stressed attention to detail and use of facts, logic, and solid arguments to her students rather than intuition, "womanliness", and emotion, the latter of which was common in medical instruction at the time.[4] In 1871, she was awarded an honorary Master of Arts degree from her alma mater, Wesleyan Female College, one of the first honorary degrees given by the institution.[7]

Bodley was elected Dean of the Faculty in January 1874, where she remained until her death.[8] Bodley reformed the curriculum by implementing progressive policies that increased the length of instruction to 3 years and allowed for more demonstrations and practical instruction in classes.[8] She oversaw the contruction of a surgical amphitheater and a surgical hall, which greatly expanded opportunities in clinical training. In 1979, the Women's Medical College, where she was serving as Dean, awarded Bodely with an honorary M.D. degree.[9] She presided over the graduation of Anandi Gopal Joshi, one of the first Hindu women to obtain a degree in Western medicine (the other[clarify]. being Kadambini Ganguly).[10] The event was witnessed by Pandita Ramabai and she was congratulated by Queen Victoria. Bodley later wrote an introduction to Pandita Ramabai's book The High-Caste Hindu Woman (1887).

Bodley became a member of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia (presently Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University) in 1871 and the New York Academy of Sciences in 1876.[11]

Bodley was director of the twenty-ninth school section in Philadelphia 1882-85 and 1887-88.[12]

Personal Life

Rachel Bodley died of heart failure on June 15, 1888.[13] [4]

Works

References

  1. ^ Grinstein, Louise S.; Biermann, Carol A.; Rose, Rose K. (1997). "Rachel Littler Bodley". Women in the Biological Sciences: A Biobibliographic Sourcebook. Greenwood Press. pp. 37–43. ISBN 9780313291807.
  2. ^ Grinstein, Louise S.; Biermann, Carol A.; Rose, Rose K. (1997). "Rachel Littler Bodley". Women in the Biological Sciences: A Biobibliographic Sourcebook. Greenwood Press. pp. 37–43. ISBN 9780313291807.
  3. ^ a b c Grinstein, Louise S.; Biermann, Carol A.; Rose, Rose K. (1997). "Rachel Littler Bodley". Women in the Biological Sciences: A Biobibliographic Sourcebook. Greenwood Press. pp. 37–43. ISBN 9780313291807.
  4. ^ a b c d Stuckey, Ronald L. (1997). "Rachel Littler Bodley". In Grinstein, Louise S.; Biermann, Carol A.; Rose, Rose K. (eds.). Women in the Biological Sciences: A Biobibliographic Sourcebook. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press. pp. 37–43. ISBN 9780313291807.
  5. ^ Grinstein, Louise S.; Biermann, Carol A.; Rose, Rose K. (1997). "Rachel Littler Bodley". Women in the Biological Sciences: A Biobibliographic Sourcebook. Greenwood Press. pp. 37–43. ISBN 9780313291807.
  6. ^ Grinstein, Louise S.; Biermann, Carol A.; Rose, Rose K. (1997). "Rachel Littler Bodley". Women in the Biological Sciences: A Biobibliographic Sourcebook. Greenwood Press. pp. 37–43. ISBN 9780313291807.
  7. ^ Grinstein, Louise S.; Biermann, Carol A.; Rose, Rose K. (1997). "Rachel Littler Bodley". Women in the Biological Sciences: A Biobibliographic Sourcebook. Greenwood Press. pp. 37–43. ISBN 9780313291807.
  8. ^ a b Grinstein, Louise S.; Biermann, Carol A.; Rose, Rose K. (1997). "Rachel Littler Bodley". Women in the Biological Sciences: A Biobibliographic Sourcebook. Greenwood Press. pp. 37–43. ISBN 9780313291807.
  9. ^ Willard, Frances; Livermore, Mary (1893). A Woman of the Century. Charles Wells Moulton.
  10. ^ Kosambi, Meera (March 2004). "Tracing the Voice: Pandita Ramabai's Life through Her Landmark Texts". Australian Feminist Studies. 19 (43): 19–28. doi:10.1080/0816464042000197404.
  11. ^ Oakes, Elizabeth (2002). International Encyclopedia of Women Scientists. New York: Facts on File. pp. 36–37.
  12. ^ Elliott, Clark A; Kohlstedt, Sally Gregory (1979). Biographical Dictionary of American Science: The Seventeenth Through the Nineteenth Centuries. Westport and London: Greenwood Press. ISBN 978-0-313-20419-7.
  13. ^ "Rachel L. Bodley papers, 1856-1891". dla.library.upenn.edu. Retrieved 2019-10-04.

Further reading

  • Grinstein, Louise S., Biermann, Carol A., Rose, Rose K. Women in the biological sciences: a biobibliographic sourcebook, Westport, Conn. : Greenwood Press, 1997
  • Shearer, Benjamin F. (1996). Notable women in the life sciences : a biographical dictionary (1. publ. ed.). Westport, Conn. [u.a.]: Greenwood Press. ISBN 9780313293023. OCLC 832549823.
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