Born: 7 August 1933, United States
Died: 12 June 2012
Country most active: United States
Also known as: Elinor Claire Awan
The following bio was written by Emma Rosen, author of On This Day She Made History: 366 Days With Women Who Shaped the World and This Day In Human Ingenuity & Discovery: 366 Days of Scientific Milestones with Women in the Spotlight, and has been republished with permission.
Elinor Claire “Lin” Ostrom was an accomplished American political scientist and economist. She received the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences in 2009 for her significant contributions to New Institutional Economics and the resurgence of political economy. She shared this recognition with Oliver E. Williamson, making her the first woman to achieve the Nobel Prize in Economics.
Starting in the 1960s, Ostrom actively engaged in resource management policy and established a research center that attracted scholars from various disciplines worldwide. Her center operated on a workshop model, fostering collaboration and inclusivity rather than traditional lectures and hierarchy.
For an extended period, Ostrom studied the interaction between human societies and ecosystems. Her work highlighted that collective resource management by groups like communities, cooperatives, trusts, and unions can be a practical approach, preventing resource depletion without necessitating state intervention or market-driven private ownership.