Cora Jipson Beckwith


Cora Jipson Beckwith was an American zoologist who spent her professional career at Vasser College.

Life

She was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan in 1875 and died in Washington in 1955. She was noted for her teaching and for her contribution to college life in terms of her membership of committees.
Cora Beckwith joined Vasser College as an assistant in 1900 after her graduation from Michigan State University in that same year. She continued her studies while working at Vasser College, gaining an M.A. in biology from Columbia University in 1908 and her PhD, also from Columbia University in 1914.
Her research was in cytology, mainly associated with bowfin and the lateral cell lines of these bony fish. She also worked on the cytology of the germ cells of certain hydroids, and had papers published on these subjects in the Biological Bulletin.
Cora Beckwith joined Vasser College as an assistant, became a professor during her career and was head of the zoology department by the time she retired in 1940. She was a life member of the Marine Biological Laboratory at Woods Hole, where she had spent many summers as a young woman. She taught histology, embryology and cytology to Vasser students.

Selected works