 from the National Archives Public Programs and Education staff. My name is Caitlyn Katrona, and I am an Education Specialist at the National Archives in Washington, DC. Welcome to the National Archives comes a lot, Young Learners Program. Today, we meet Dr. Ruth Patrick, botanist, limnologist, and recipient of the National Medal of Science. She was a pioneer in freshwater ecology who broke gender barriers in the early 20th century. She gained world-renowned when she developed one as known as the Patrick Principle, which identified the importance of biological diversity in creating a more balanced river ecosystem. Dr. Patrick has advised five presidents of the United States on water quality and pollution. In 1996, President Clinton presented her with a National Medal of Science for outstanding contributions to healthy river systems. Dr. Ruth Patrick is portrayed by Carol Spatt of the American Historical Theater. The National Archives has many records related to the environments, ecology, water preservation, the health of rivers, Earth Day activities, and Dr. Ruth Patrick. On this slide, for our Education Specific Resource Docks Teach, you can see an educational activity related to Earth Day. This item is a photograph of President Bush showing his t-shirt honoring Earth Day in 1990. In this slide, we have another image, this one of a poster. This poster by artist Robert Rauschenberg was designed to support the American Environment Foundation in honor of the first Earth Day. The first Earth Day was celebrated in 1970 as a nationwide event supported by elementary and secondary schools, universities, and community sites across the United States. The United States Information Agency made this reproduction of Rauschenberg's original work in 1993. The poster features an image of a bald eagle surrounded by a photo montage showing endangered animals, deforestation, and land, water, and air pollution. According to the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation, the artist's use of the American Eagle symbolically placed the United States at the center of a global problem. In 1996, President Clinton honored Dr. Ruth Patrick for her many significant contributions to ecology. During a White House ceremony, Dr. Ruth Patrick received the National Medal of Science and Technology for her algal research, particularly the ecology and paleocology of diatoms, and for elucidating the importance of biodiversity of aquatic life in ascertaining the natural conditions of rivers and the effects of pollution. In this video, you can see her receive the medal. Our programs are brought to you from the National Archives Public Programs and Education Team and the National Archives Foundation. You can find information for free teacher and student programs on the National Archives website, archives.gov, under Archives News, upcoming events. And if you follow the National Archives on social media. So now let's give a warm welcome to Dr. Ruth Patrick. Well, how is the world with you? I hope all is well. I've been invited today to talk about myself, which I suppose means you'll have to listen to me talk about myself. And I will be telling my story. Mostly as I told it in 1997, when the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia, they asked me to write about myself. Now, I'll skip some names of people that you might not know. I don't want to be called a name dropper, but I hope that you'll be patient if I drop a few names. I also hope that you'll be patient if I explain things simply so that everyone can understand. So today, I'm going to take a moment to talk about water, especially fresh water from rivers and streams, and how single-celled organisms in the water interact with the environment around them, and what these single-celled organisms can tell us about water quality and water pollution. So I'll begin the story of my love affair with science and a one-celled beauty encased in a shell of glass and called a diatom. I was born in Topeka, Kansas, and my father, he was a banker and a lawyer, and my mother's father was a judge. But despite his chosen profession, my father was intensely interested in natural science. He was a scientist at heart. And when my sister and I were four or five and four years old, well, that would be respectively, my father started to teach us about the natural world. And each Sunday, we walked to the park and through the woods, collecting mosses, ferns, and flowers, as well as nuts, snails, and yes, even worms. And my passion for science was ignited. As the greatest joy on earth to me is walking through the understory of woods. And then at the end of each of these trips, my father scraped the rocks in a nearby stream with a tin can, a tin can that would be fastened on the end of a bamboo pole, just like Tom Sawyer. And then he would transfer that water from the can into a glass bottle that he had in his pocket. And then, of course, we would return home. Then over milk and crackers, we tried to determine what we had found. My father knew the species of the trees to which the leaves belonged. And he could name the snails and the flowers, and yes, even the worms. And when we finished the identification of the large organisms, we would go into the library. And then my father had a roll-top desk and within it, four microscopes. And he would pull out the most appropriate one and make slides of the material that we had collected. My sister and I, we would climb on his knees and peer through the microscope. My entrancement with a microscopic world, which developed during these afternoons with my father, has never departed. These early experiences also led to my interest in diatoms. Algae that live in houses made of glass. They are the only organism on the planet with cell walls composed of transparent silica. And my father, he gave me my first microscope at the age of seven. And the microscope, well, it was simply a tube. And one pulled the tube up and down to focus it. I would off on the lie on the floor, on my stomach, and I'd examine anything I happened to pick up. Sometimes it was grains of sugar or salt. Other times it was the pollen of flowers or a drop of dirty water. The microscopic world caught my imagination and it continues to hold it to this day. Now, of course, after I entered school, my love of the natural world, it continued. And nothing pleased me more than to walk along the seashore and collect shells or to enter a swamp and try to identify all the things I saw. My mother, who was a typical old fashioned lady, she could not understand my interest. And she would often say it was difficult for her to recognize me as her daughter because of the way I was dressed. But my father, my father had a very different approach. At every turn, he encouraged me to learn more about the natural world. Most men in those days believed that women had inferior brains and could not possibly achieve in science or business. And therefore, why train them? Fortunately, my father had a very different philosophy. He felt that women were intellectually as capable as men. And therefore, he always encouraged me to continue my schooling. Ruth, in your spare time, read, improve your mind. You can always hire people to wash the dishes. That sounds like good advice. Now, I was invited to become a graduate student at the University of Virginia to continue my studies with algae and diatoms. And so I accepted at that time. Girls were certainly not thought much of. In fact, there were no girls in the undergraduate school and in the graduate school program, there were only a few women. And all of us were rather simple, hardworking students. We dressed simply. And we spent our time studying. Oh, occasionally, we went out on dates. But this was not a regular activity. But when I met my husband, Charles Hodge, he was a young graduate student at the University of Pennsylvania. We were both eager students. But when we married, my loyalties were divided between my husband and my work. As I always believe that if a woman marries, she must maintain a suitable home for her husband and family. I had to work because we literally did not have money to live otherwise. But I also greatly enjoyed my work. I would never have been happy as a housewife. After I finished my graduate work and received my PhD, I continued to study diatoms at the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia. But once again, the attitudes toward women were very different in those days than they are today. Women were definitely thought to be inferior. And a woman really had to prove her mental if she were going to be a scientist. There were only three women in biological sciences in the United States that were interested at that time in my field of science. And all of these women, because of the attitudes of men toward women, well, the women tried to disguise the fact that they were women. They seldom washed their hair. They never went to a beauty shop to have their hair for a fjord. And they wore very simple unattractive clothes. And of course, no makeup. These conditions of women aggravated me. Let's see why I couldn't simply dress as a lady and work in a scientific institution. Doing so created resentment. And I soon realized I had to wear very plain clothes to the Academy of Natural Sciences and to the university when I attended classes. Now, I want you to understand how I felt about diatoms and the larger picture of life. I was intrigued with the idea that I could use my love of diatoms, these single celled organisms to solve the large scale problems of this earth. And it was amazing how everything fell in place. I remember I gave a talk about how diatoms could explain mysteries in water, such as the origin of the Great Salt Lake. And after that talk, an official at the old Atlantic refining company, oh, Mr. W. B. Hart, he came up to me and he said, you have discovered something that will help us in this problem of water pollution. And he explained his concerns about pollution and its effect on aquatic life. He asked if I could determine what was going on in a river by studying shifts in diatoms, whether pollution was present, what sort of pollution it was, and how it was affecting aquatic life. See diatoms. Diatoms are like detectives. Their silico walls readily absorb pollutants. Some diatoms will thrive in water contaminated by sewage. And other diatoms will flourish amongst chemical pollutants. And thereby by linking certain diatoms with specific water environments, it becomes possible to identify the sources of different types of aquatic pollution. But I knew no one person can really understand a river or a stream. My earlier days with my father had shown me that a stream holds enough different kind of organisms that understanding why species live where they do and what they indicate they indicate more scientific knowledge than one person could ever master. And so I organized a team of scientists. I have been told that I was the first to use a team of scientists to solve a scientific problem in water, particularly in rivers. Now Mr. Hart, he raised a large sum of money that he wanted to give to the academy of natural sciences to support my research. The president of the academy, Mr. Cadwallader, oh he was thrilled. And then Mr. Hart said, now I want Dr. Patrick to lead the group and Mr. Cadwallader said, you can't do that. Well, she's a young girl. And don't you know all young women waste money? You can't possibly do that. And then Mr. Hart said, well, then there's no money for the academy, of course. Mr. Cadwallader quickly changed his tune. And Dr. Patrick, I was put in charge of the project. However, many of the board of trustees, they had little faith in my studies. They felt my work was frivolous and unworthy of the academy. Nobody ever thought to work with pollution. That was common. That was dirty. That was below them. And so when I started with this money that came through Mr. Hart, many of the scientists at the academy were horrified. They thought I would ruin the institution. I was considered almost a woman of the streets for bringing corporate money to a place as hallowed as the academy and for doing applied work instead of pure basic research. Pollution was a dirty word at the academy. But fortunately, fortunately, others believed in what I was trying to do. I thought I should be given a chance. These were exciting days. People were beginning to believe that women really did have abilities in the field of science. And I was fortunate in being in the forefront of this movement in the biological sciences. And hence, I was invited to give lectures and to join organizations and yes, to receive awards. My work was beginning to be accepted and this type of recognition, it meant a great deal to me. I have always worked hard. But without the support of many others, I would never have achieved the contributions that I have made to the field of riverine science. And so I thank you today for listening to me, Dr. Ruth Patrick. Thank you so much, Dr. Patrick. Thank you. If you have a few extra minutes, I do have a couple of questions for you. Oh, please. Yes, of course. All right, great. So, Dr. Patrick, my first question for you is, you mentioned that you experienced discrimination as a woman scientist. Indeed, yes. Yeah, would you be willing to give us an example of how men treated women scientists differently? Well, I can think of one particular incident and it comes to my mind to truly illustrate the attitude of men toward women in those days. Once again, I was working at the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia. And I remember that one of the older scientists, and he was a very right man, he was intrigued by a young girl studying diatoms at the Academy. And of course, as you understand, I was the only woman scientist at the Academy at that time. And so he would stop by every morning to talk to me. This bored me. I'm being honest because I wanted to get along with my work. So I would say as little as possible, giving him responses such as, yes, Dr. Harper, or thank you, Dr. Harper. But one morning, he said, some of your older friends think you're slipping. And then he left the room. I was terribly worried by this comment. And after about a half hour, I went to his office and I said, Dr. Harper, you have made a very personal remark. I want to know what you mean. And his reply was, well, some of your older friends have been noting that you have been wearing a little lipstick. Another lady who was a very gentle, lovely lady who belonged to a wonderful family of people who were in Philadelphia. And I said, well, she wears lipstick. Why can't I wear lipstick? And his response was, you're on a different plane. You are working on a PhD. And so it was. Thank you so much for your response, Dr. Patrick. Now, our next question for you is, students studying science might have learned about the Patrick principle, and we know it's named after you. But for someone who might not be familiar, could you please explain for us what is the Patrick principle and why is it important? Well, I will try to do that as simply as I can. So again, that it will be understandable, I hope. And you have to understand that through my research on diatoms, these single cell algae, I devised a model for gauging the health of a body of water by evaluating all life in it, from the diatoms to the insects and to the fish. And it's not just simplistic counting of species, which could confuse an invasive species with an indigenous species. But rather, it requires a methodical approach. And that is why you must have a team of scientists to look at the whole ecosystem if you really want to understand what's going on in the environment. And so I set forth the principle that natural rivers and streams are characterized by a great many species belonging to many different groups. In other words, a aquatic life is highly diversified and shifts in the kinds and the numbers of species enable one to measure the imprint of man's activity on the ecosystem, such as water pollution. And thus it is the diversity and the redundancy of species, and that means more than is needed. And that is what gives the stability to a natural biological system in the rivers. And without this redundancy of species, oh many more than is needed, restoring a stream or a river to its natural conditions would probably be difficult or impossible to do. And so it is the importance of diversity and the idea that you have to look at the whole ecosystem that is the basis of the theory which conservationist Dr. Thomas Lovejoy has called the Patrick principle. And if this sounds familiar, it's because it's an ecosystem approach that now is considered as common knowledge, but not until I pioneered the approach as a young woman scientist. And if I have to put it all together in one sentence, diversity to me is the keynote of a balanced environment. Thank you Dr. Patrick for that explanation of the Patrick principle. So another question that I have for you today Dr. Patrick is looking back at your own life, what advice can you give to young people today, especially young women, about studying the sciences? That's a very good question. I thank you for asking that of me. I think that the main thing is that you must have an appetite, appetite for learning. And that's whether you are a young man or a young woman. And you have to really want to understand something. And I believe that is the driving force that causes you to give up everything, to reach your goals despite whatever obstacles might be in your way. Now I will admit that I've given up lots of things some people would think are important or enjoyable in life just because of the driving force within me of wanting to study diatoms to learn all about them and how they are part of the natural world. And having been taught by my father that I must leave the world a better place than the one I came into. My question was how I could use my love of diatoms to solve some of the problems in this world. And although I am interested in many fields outside of my area of work, I have never had the time to pursue activities such as reading history and literature and going to concerts and plays. Oh I have done some of this, but I rather enjoy reading and learning about the biological sciences. I love the outdoor world and I love science. I don't know if I ever wanted to do anything else. And these have been the driving forces of my life. Persistence, a love of science and a charge from my father saying, remember you must leave this world better. You must somehow find a niche in which you can make a real contribution. So I hope that anyone who would be listening to me today that they would be willing whether they are a young man or a young woman to overcome whatever obstacles might be in their path and then to find the driving forces of your own life. Because I hope that you leave this world a better place because you pass along this way too. All right thank you again Dr. Patrick for your advice and for your time today. And now as we wrap up our program for today, one last look at Ruth Patrick receiving the National Medal of Science and Technology. And here we also want to give one last look at the Earth Day poster from our Docs Teach activity which we saw earlier. And certainly I hope that you can also join us next month for our Young Learners program with Mary Weather Lewis and William Clark to learn about the core of Discovery Expedition across the western portion of the United States. And I'd like to thank all of you for participating in our program today.