Lou Henry Hoover

Lou Henry Hoover

Lou Henry (1874-1944) Hoover was the wife of President Herbert Hoover and served as First Lady of the United States from 1929 to 1933.

Lou Henry was born March 29th, in Waterloo, Iowa, 1874. During her childhood, her father, Charles Delano Henry, always took her on camping trips in the mountains. She learnt how to ride horses and hunted during the trips, as well as developed a great passion on rocks. In 1894, Lou Henry attended Stanford University as a geology major and was the only female student. Later, she met her future husband, Herbert Hoover, at Stanford University.  She was a scholar and linguistic expert and commonly spoke out and distinguished herself by making nationwide radio broadcasts. She was also known to be the only female student studying geology Stanford University (“Lou Henry Hoover” n.d.).

It is hard to compare Lou Henry Hoover with the two women geologists above, because she did not make significant contributions geologic research. But apparently, she is the most famous woman among all; it is much easier to find her life story or even personal story with details, than to find an introduction of Mary Anning on the internet. Lou Henry Hoover was better known as the first lady who was a geologist, than as a geologist itself.