Christine Essenberg
Personal Information
Born: approximately 1876
Died: 1965
Country of Birth: Unknown (might be Sweden or Switzerland)
Nationality: Swedish-American
Ethnicity: White
Education
Valparaiso University MS Zoology & Botany; UC Berkeley PhD Zoology 1917
""How much there is to be done, and how little one knows." (lostwomenofscience.org); "
— Christine Essenberg
Professional Life
Field of Study: Zoology; Oceanography
Institution/Corporation: Scripps Institute of Oceanography
Degrees & Memberships: None found
Awards & Achievements
Awards: None found
Achievements: one of the early researchers at what is now the Scripps Institution of Oceanography; opened The American School for Girls in Damascus Syria 1925; published "Description of Some NewSpecies of Polynoidae From the Coast of California" a 28 page paper in 1917; published "The Factors of some New Species of Polynoidae From the Coast of California" a 146 page paper in 1918; authored the Quantitative Studies On Inshore Marine Diatoms And Dinoflagellates Of Southern California In 1920, And Stylarioides Papillosa Sp. Nov., A New Annelid From The San Diego Region.
very little is known about her
was lost to science until Katie Hafner came across Folder 29 containing 8 pages of letters from her in a box of papers belonging to Carl Eckart (a geophysicist) at UC San Diego Special Collections & Archives
in 1922 took a leave of absence from Scripps (without pay) to visit marine labs & her sick sister in Switzerland & 2 months later was teaching science to women & girls at The Constantinople Women's College
taught in St. Peterburg Russia for several years before immigrating to the US & living & going to school in Indiana
her school in Damascus stayed open during WWII & was a safe haven for expatriates stranded there & she allowed Allied soldiers to use part of the school
after the war traveled back to the US many times to gather support, funds & teachers for her school
in turkey encouraged the mothers of her students to also attend classes in order to better educate them
spent the final years of her life in San Francisco, dying in 1965 at the approximate age of 89
published at least 9 scientific papers