Born: 3 December 1797, United States
Died: 29 May 1867
Country most active: United States
Also known as: NA
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.
Margaretta Morris was an American entomologist known for studying wheat flies. In 1850, she became, together with the astronomer Maria Mitchell, the first woman elected to the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
Morris focused her research on wheat flies resembling the Hessian fly, challenging the belief that they laid eggs in the stalk. She also studied the seventeen-year locust and fungi as botanical pests. Morris described Magicicada cassinii, a periodical cicada species, which was later named after John Cassin. Her findings greatly impacted agriculture and orchards. She submitted her papers to scientific societies like the American Philosophical Society, which, at the time, only admitted men. She also published in the American Agriculturist and other agricultural journals, occasionally using pseudonyms.
She died in 1867.