Ruth Turner Explained

Ruth Dixon Turner
Birth Date:December 7, 1914
Birth Place:Melrose, Massachusetts
Death Date:April 30, 2000
Death Place:Waltham, Massachusetts
Nationality:American
Fields:Malacology
Workplaces:Museum of Comparative Zoology
Alma Mater:Harvard University

Ruth Dixon Turner (1914  - April 30, 2000) was a pioneering U.S. marine biologist and malacologist. She was the world's expert on Teredinidae or shipworms, a taxonomic family of wood-boring bivalve mollusks which severely damage wooden marine installations.

Turner held the Alexander Agassiz Professorship at Harvard University, and was a Curator of Malacology in the university's Museum of Comparative Zoology, where she also served as co-editor of the scientific journal Johnsonia. She graduated from Bridgewater State College, earned a master's degree at Cornell University and a Ph.D. at Harvard (Radcliffe College) where she specialized in shipworm research.[1] [2]

Turner became one of Harvard's first tenured women professors in 1973, and was one of the most academically successful female marine researchers, publishing over 200 scientific articles and a book during her long career. She was also the first female scientist to use the deep ocean research submarine Alvin.[3] Much of Turner's work was done in co-operation with William J. Clench. Among other things they jointly described about 70 new mollusk species.[4]

Organisms named in honor of Turner include two symbiotic bacteria associated with bivalves: Teredinibacter turnerae (isolated from the shipworm Lyrodus pedicellatus),[5] and Candidatus Ruthia magnifica (from the deep-sea bivalve Calyptogena magnifica).[6]

References

  1. News: Ruth Dixon Turner, professor of biology, dies. 2000-05-04. Harvard Gazette. 2017-10-13. en-US.
  2. News: Ruth D. Turner; Professor Was Expert on Shipworms. 2000-05-10. Los Angeles Times. 2017-10-13. en-US. 0458-3035.
  3. Web site: Ruth Turner. 2009-10-16.
  4. Bibliography of Turner's and Clench's contributions to lists of new mollusk species. Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology. 158. 1–46. 10.3099/0027-4100(2003)158[1:MTABOW]2.0.CO;2. 2003. Johnson. Richard I.. 86033546 .
  5. Distel. Daniel L.. Morrill. Wendy. MacLaren-Toussaint. Noelle. Franks. Dianna. Waterbury. John. November 2002. Teredinibacter turnerae gen. nov., sp. nov., a dinitrogen-fixing, cellulolytic, endosymbiotic gamma-proteobacterium isolated from the gills of wood-boring molluscs (Bivalvia: Teredinidae). International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology. 52. Pt 6. 2261–2269. 10.1099/00207713-52-6-2261. 1466-5026. 12508896.
  6. Roeselers. Guus. Newton. Irene L. G.. Woyke. Tanja. Auchtung. Thomas A.. Dilly. Geoffrey F.. Dutton. Rachel J.. Fisher. Meredith C.. Fontanez. Kristina M.. Lau. Evan. 2010-10-31. Complete genome sequence of Candidatus Ruthia magnifica. Standards in Genomic Sciences. En. 3. 2. 163–73. 10.4056/sigs.1103048. 21304746. 3035367. 1944-3277.

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