Eugenie Clark
Personal Information
Born: 1922
Died: 2015
Country of Birth: USA
Nationality: USA
Ethnicity: Japanes-American
Education
Hunter College BA Zoology 1942; NYU MA 1946 & PhD 1950 both in Zoology
"“I never let being a woman — even as a young girl — stop me from trying to do something I really wanted to do, especially if it concerned fishes or the underwater world.” (mote.org); "I just love riddles, especially when they deal with fish." (site.google.com); "I want to be remembered as a nice person who didn't hurt people-except my ex-husbands maybe." (Brainy Quote); "I can't think of anything I regret. Everything I've done, I've enjoyed doing. I've had 5 husbands, 4 children. I've done it all, but mainly I've enjoyed studying fish & being underwater with them, being in their natural habitat, looking at the fish & the fish looking at me." (Brainy Quote)"
— Eugenie Clark
Professional Life
Field of Study: Icthyology
Institution/Corporation: Mote Marine Laboratory; University of Maryland College Park
Degrees & Memberships: Honorary Degrees: University of Massachusetts, Long Island University, University of Guelph; Member: American Association for the Advancement of Science (1976), Alpha Lambda Delta (1991, Trustee Mote Marine Lab
Awards & Achievements
Awards: 1951 Fulbright Scholar; Florida Women's Hall of Fame; 1987 NOGI Academy of Underwater Arts & Sciences; 1975 Gold Medal, International Society of Women Geographers; 1989 Maryland Women's Hall of Fame; Explorers Club Medal; 1994 Medal of Excellence, American Society of Oceanographers; 1969 Dugan Award in Aquatic Sciences, American Littoral Society; 1999 Distinguished Fellow Award, American Elasmobranch Society; 1993 Franklin L. Burr Award, National Geographic Society; 1993 President's Medal, University of Maryland; 1952 Hunter College Alumni Award; 1953 Mademoiselle Merit Award in Science; 1964 Hadassah Myrtle Wreath Award in Science; 1965 Marquis Who's Who Citation; 1965 NOGI Award in Arts, Underwater Society of America; 1965 Golden Plate Award, American Academy of Achievement; 1972 Hunter College Hall of Fame; 1973 Cousteau Award, Boston Sea Rovers; 1974 Liberty Bell Award, Philadelphia; 1978 Diver of the Year, Boston Sea Rovers; 1982 Outstanding Woman Award, University of Maryland; 1986 Lowell Thomas Award for Undersea Exploration, Explorers Club; 1986 Best Nature Film Award, Wildscreen International Film Festival; 1986 Ocean Hero, Year of the Ocean (1984-85); 1990 Woman of Distinction, NASPA; 1990 Honorary Citizen & Key to the City, Sarasota Florida; 1991 Faculty Award, Phi Kappa Phi; 1991 NAUI Award for Outstanding Contributions to Diving; 1992 Bryant High School Hall of Fame; 1993 DEMA (Diving Equipment Manufacturers Association) Hall of Fame Award; 1970 Silver Medal, Mademoiselle; 1981 David S. Stone Medal for Distinguished Service to Environment & Community; 1984 Medal, Governor of South Sinai, Egypt; 1988 Medal, Governor of the Red Sea, Egypt; 2000 Women Divers Hall of Fame
Achievements: discovered some shark species don't have to continuously swim in order to breathe; researched shark behavior & fish in the order Tetraodontiformes; pioneer in the field of scuba diving for research purposes; 1949 conducted fish population & poisonous fish studies for the Office of Naval Research in the South Seas & learned to free dive while there; wrote "Lady With a Spear" about her experiences in the Red Sea published 1953 & became a best seller; 2nd book "The Lady & The Sharks" published 1969; conducted over 70 submersible dives, led over 200 field research expeditions around the world, worked on 24 TV specials & helped create the 1st IMAX film; co-wrote a children's book "The Desert Beneath the Sea" 1991 about her investigations of the sandy floors of the Red Sea; with retired Lt. Col. Bill Royal dived the Warm Mineral springs & Little Salt Springs & discovered human remains thousands of years old
Known as "The Shark Lady" or Genie
after a visit to the NY Aquarium in Battery Park at age 9 became so interested in marine animals that she spent subsequent Saturdays there while her mother worked
Father died when she was 2
her application to attend graduate school at Columbia University was rejected because the chairman of the department believed she would quit to raise children & not use what she learned
for 2 summers during college studied at the University of Michigan Biological Station
carried out research at Scripps Institute of Oceanography in La Jolla CA (1946-47), American Museum of Natural History in NY (1948-66), Woods Hole Marine Biological Laboratory in MA (1948), & the Lerner Marine Laboratory in Bimini
after attending a lecture given by Clark, Anne & William H. Vanderbilt built a lab for her in Florida they named Cape Haze Marine Laboratory in 1955
Sylvia Earle helped her establish a herbarium at Cape Haze & they were good friends until Clark's death
was on the faculty at NYU in 1966 & became an instructor at the University of Maryland College Park in 1968, officially retiring in 1999 but continued to teach 1 class every semester for several years
Cape Haze became Mote Marine Lab & she returned there in 2000
her last dive was in 2014, 1 year before her death
was married 5 times with 4 ending in divorce & her last husband committing suicide
several species of fish are named after her including a whale known as Genie's dogfish
2022 the US Postal Office issued a Forever Stamp depicting her in diving gear with a whale
rode on the back of a 50-foot whale shark
referred to sharks as "the gangsters of the deep"
1946 was asked by the US Fish & Wildlife Service to study the sea life of the Philippines but was detained by the FBI because of her Japanese heritage (Mother & step-father were Japanese) & not allowed to go
while most icthyologists studied & catalogued dead fish she studied live fish in their environments & in the lab, establishing the 1st live shark tanks at Mote
took her 4 children on various expiditions & taught the all to dive, later taking her grandson with her
was a favorite teacher at University of Maryland & stooped taking the roll because she always had more attendees than registered students
while working at Scripps, she & another female researcher were barred from going on overnight trips or going to the Galapagos Islands because they were female
taught the then Crown Prince Akihito of Japan how to snorkel
learned to swim before she was 2 years old
learned to scuba at Scripps