ELIZABETH
H. BELLMER
(Sister
Elizabeth Henry Bellmer, Sister of Notre Dame)
Place of birth: Brooklyn, New York, U.S.A
Higher Education:
1959 B.A. Trinity College, Washington, D. C. (Biology major, Chemistry minor)
1962 M.S. The Catholic University of America, Washington, D.C. (Zoology
major; Botany minor) Thesis: "The time of embryonic fusion of the malleus and incus of the guinea
pig"
1968 Ph.D. The Catholic University of America, Washington, D.C. (Botany
major; Ecology & Zoology minors) Thesis: "Distribution, variation,
and chromosome number in the Appalachian shale barren endemic Eriogonum allenii
Watson"
Professional Life:
1948-1952, 1953-1955: grade school teacher at SS. Joachim and Anne Parish
School, Queens Village, New York
1952-1953: grade school teacher at Our Lady of Victory Parish School,
Southern Pines, North Carolina
1955-1957: high school biology teacher at St. Maria Goretti
High School, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
1959-1961: Laboratory instructor, Biology Dept., Trinity College, Washington,
D.C.
1963-1965: Lecturer, Biology Dept., Trinity College, Washington, D.C.
1970-1984: Assistant Professor, Biology Dept., Trinity College, Washington,
D.C.
1984-1994: Professor, Biology Dept., Trinity College, Washington, D.C. (Chair
1971-72; 1978-80;1982-90)
1995 - present: Professor Emerita, Trinity
University, Washington, D.C.
Fellowship:
1962-1963; 1963-1964: National Science Foundation Cooperative Graduate
Fellowship, The Catholic University of America, Washington, D.C.
Research Grant:
1982: American Philosophical Society, Penrose Fund, #9293, research in
England on f19th centure Catholic attitudes towards
Darwinism, notabley on the papers of John Henry
Cardinal Newman in Birmingham.
Professional Training Grants:
1960: NSF Summer Institute in radiation biology for high school & college
teachers, Florida State University, Tallahassee
1968: NSF History of biology summer institute for college teachers, Ohio
State University, Columbus
1972: NSF Summer institute in field biology, Colorado State University, Fort
Collins (Pingree Park Campus)
Directorships:
1991, 1993, 1995: National Endowment for the Humanities Summer Seminars for
School Teachers " The Origin of Species: The Victorian Milieu
of Science and Religion" co-director with Dr. Susan H. Farnsworth,
Trinity College, Washington, D.C.
Honors:
Sigma Xi, Phi Beta Kappa
Research Projects:
July 1974 - June 1975: Sabbatical Leave. Visiting Associate Professor of
Botany, Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio.
"Reaction of various Christian denominations, and of leading Roman
Catholics, in 19th century England to Darwinism"
Summer 1982: American Philosophical Society
Research Grant, England. "19th century Roman Catholic attitudes toward
Darwinism: papers of John Henry Newman at the Oratory, Birmingham"
June - December, 1988: Sabbatical leave,
England. "19th century attituted towards Darwinism,
principally those of Gladstone" (research conducted in St. Deiniol's Library, Hawarden, Wales; Bodleian Library,
Oxford; British Museum, London; Colindale Newspaper Library, London)
January 1994-January 1995. Terminal
sabbatical, Wales & England. "Gladstone's 'colour-sense'
and Mivart's life"
Papers Presented:
1975. "The reaction of the Catholic
Church to Darwinism in 19th century England" Tenth Annual History of
Science Meeting of the Ohio Academy of Science, Columbus, Ohio (March 8,
1975).
1975. "Mivart's
Genesis of Species and Darwinism" Midwest Junto
of the History of Science Society, 18th Annual Meeting, Kansas State
University, Manhattan, Kansas (April 10-12, 1975).
1975. "... And That's the Way It Was: A
Glimpse into the History of Science" Trinity College Sigma Xi
Bicentennial Program on SCIENCE AND SOCIETY, Part I -- The History,
Philosophy, and Sociology of Science, Trinity College, Washington, D.C.
(October 8, 1975).
1975. "Agassiz, Gray, and Huxley:
Reaction to Darwinism" Trinity Scholar Lecture, Trinity College,
Washington, D.C. (December 2, 1975).
1982. "St. George Jackson Mivart, Darwin's Supporter/Opponent" Catholic Universty of America Graduate Seminar, (Spring, 1982).
1984. "John Henry Newman and
Darwinism" Seventh Annual Mini-Symposium of the Washington Area
Consortium of Universities. George Mason University, Fairfax, Virginia
(Spring 1984).
1985. "Mivart
and Natural Selection" Eigth Annual
Mini-Symposium of the Washington Area Consortium of Universities. University
of the District of Columbia, Washington, D.C. (Spring 1985).
1986. "Mivart
and Darwinism" Faculty Colloquium, Trinity College, Washington, D. C.
(Spring 1986).
1987. "Comments on Darwinism in the
Letters of John Henry Newman" Faculty Colloquium, Trinity College,
Washington, D. C. (Spring 1987).
1989. "Gladstone, Homer, and Darwin: the Colour-Sense" Biology Seminar, Trinity College,
Washington, D.C. (February 1989).
1992. "The Darwinian Debate in Victorian
England" Guest lecturer in Interdepartmental 381, Victorian Studies,
Trinity College, Washington, D.C.
1993. "Gladstone, Homer, and Evolution:
Gladstone's Colour Sense "
Annual Meeting, Southern Conference on British Studies, Orlando, Florida
(November 1993).
1995. "The Hiestorical
Context of Darwin's Ideas" with Dr. Susan H. Farnsworth. One-day
Symposium at Trinity College for area school teachers, sponsored by the
Washington, D.C. Chapter of Phi Beta Kappa (June 1995).
Publications:
Bellmer, Elizabeth Henry (1963) The time of embryonic fusion
of the malleus and incus
of the guinea pig. American Midland Naturalist 69: 426-434.
Bellmer, Elizabeth Henry (1969). Distribution, variation and
chromosome number in the Appalachian shale barren endemic Eriogonum
allenii Watson. Biological Studies
#132. The Catholic University of America, Washington, D.C.
1999. The statesman and the opthalmologist: Gladstone and Magnus on the evolution of
human colour vision, one small episode of the 19th
century Darwinian debate. Annals of Science 56: 25-45.
___________________________________________________________________________________________
Special Thanks to:
Mary Hayes, S.N.D., Archivist and Professor of History, Trinity University,
Washington D.C. for providing the photograph and resume of Elizabeth Bellmer.
