Sophy Parfin Explained

Sophy Parfin
Birth Name:	Sophie Ivanovna Parfinowich
Birth Date:	April 22, 1918
Birth Place:	New Haven, Connecticut
Death Date:	October 28, 1966 (age 48)
Death Place:	New Britain, Connecticut
Occupation:	Entomologist

Sophy I. Parfin (April 22, 1918October 28, 1966) was an American entomologist associated with the National Museum of Natural History.

Early life and education

Sophie Ivanovna Parfinowich was born in New Haven, Connecticut, the daughter of Russian immigrants John Parfinowich and Anastasia Hamego Parfinowich. She had an older sister, Olga; their mother died in 1919.^[1] Her father worked at a General Motors plant.^[2]

She graduated from Meriden High School in 1935,^[3] attended Bethel Junior College^[4] and earned a bachelor's degree in zoology and a teaching certificate from Wheaton College in 1939.^[5] She earned a master's degree at the University of Minnesota.^[6] Her master's thesis was titled "The Megaloptera and Neuroptera of Minnesota" (1949).^[7]

Parfin continued her education through her adulthood, taking courses in English, Russian, botany and medical entomology at the Newark College of Engineering, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, George Washington University, and the University of Maryland.

Career

Parfin taught school as a young woman, in Connecticut and Maine.^[8] She worked as a mechanical engineer during World War II, in Kearny, New Jersey.^[9] From 1944 until her retirement in 1960, Parfin was an assistant curator and preparator at the National Museum of Natural History.^[10] She studied aquatic Neuroptera (fish flies), and the "bionomics of ant-lions".^[11] She was secretary of the Washington chapter of Sigma Delta Epsilon, and a member of the American Association of University Women and the Entomological Society of Washington.

Personal life

Parfin retired from the Smithsonian at age 42, with worsening arthritis that affected her ability to work in a museum or laboratory. She died in 1966, in New Britain, Connecticut, at the age of 48. There is a collection of her papers in the library of the University of Minnesota.^[12]

Publications

• "The Megaloptera and Neuroptera of Minnesota" (1952)^[13]
• "Additional records for Brachypanorpa carolinensis (Banks) (Mecoptera: Parnopidae)" (1955)^[14]
• "The spongilla-flies, with special reference to those of the Western Hemisphere (Sisyridae, Neuroptera)" (1956, with Ashley B. Gurney)^[15]
• "Taxonomic notes on Kimminsia (Neuroptera; Hemerobiidae)" (1956)^[16]
• "Notes on the bionomics of the Mantispidae (Neuroptera: Planipennia)" (1958)^[17]

Notes and References

1. Gurney, Ashley B., and Luella M. Walkley. "Sophy I. Parfin (1918-1966)" Proceedings of the Entomological Society of Washington 69(2)(June 1967): 190-192. via Internet Archive
2. News: 1968-09-03 . John Parfinowich . 2 . The Journal . 2023-01-09 . Newspapers.com.
3. News: 1966-10-29 . Miss Parfin Dies, Noted Entomologist . 2 . Record-Journal . 2023-01-09 . Newspapers.com.
4. Bethel Academy, Spire (1937 yearbook): 7.
5. News: 1939-04-01 . Local Girls Honored by their Colleges . 3 . Record-Journal . 2023-01-09 . Newspapers.com.
6. News: 1954-08-04 . Meriden Girl Makes Study of Insects Her Profession . 16 . Record-Journal . 2023-01-09 . Newspapers.com.
7. Book: Parfin, Sophy I. . The Megaloptera and Neuroptera of Minnesota . 1949 . University of Minnesota. . en.
8. News: 1941-09-01 . Orono . 5 . The Bangor Daily News . 2023-01-09 . Newspapers.com.
9. News: 1966-10-29 . Sophy Parfin Dies D.C. Entomologist . 2 . The Journal . 2023-01-09 . Newspapers.com.
10. Flint . O. S. Jr. . 2002 . List of the Name-Bearing Neuropterida Types in the Collection of the National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institutions, USA . Acta Zoologica Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae . 48 . 90.
11. https://books.google.com/books?id=P_xRAQAAIAAJ&dq=Sophy+Parfin&pg=RA2-PA66 "Zoology"
12. Web site: Parfin, Sophy, 1947-1957 . 2023-01-09 . University of Minnesota Archival Collections Guides.
13. Parfin, Sophy I. "The Megaloptera and Neuroptera of Minnesota" The American Midland Naturalist 47(2)(1952): 421-434.
14. Parfin, Sophy I. "Additional records for Brachypanorpa carolinensis (Banks) (Mecoptera: Parnopidae)", Proceedings of the Entomological Society of Washington 57(4)(1955):204-205.
15. Parfin, Sophy I. and Gurney, Ashley B. 1956. "The Spongilla-flies, with Special Reference to Those of the Western Hemisphere (Sisyridae, Neuroptera)." Proceedings of the United States National Museum. 105 (3360):421–529, 24 figures, 3 plates.
16. Book: Sophy Parfin . Taxonomic notes on Kimminsia (Neuroptera; Hemerobiidae) . 1956 . Proceedings of the Entomological Society of Washington.
17. Web site: Parfin, Sophy I . 2023-01-09 . Biodiversity Heritage Library.