View source for Biography:Elizabeth Gault Fisher

{{Short description|U.S. entomologist, bacteriologist and amateur bryologist (1909–2000)}}
{{Infobox person/Wikidata
| image         = Elizabeth Gault Fisher.tif
| fetchwikidata = ALL
| birth_place   = Baltimore, Maryland, U.S.
| death_place   = Westminster, Maryland, U.S.
| dateformat    = mdy
| alma_mater    = [[Organization:Cornell University|Cornell University]] {{small|(BS,[[Social:Doctor of Philosophy|PhD]])}}
| module        = {{Infobox academic |child=yes
| thesis_title  = A Comparative Study of the Male Terminalia of the Mycetophilidae of Nearctic America
}}}}

'''Elizabeth Gault Fisher''' (April 29, 1909 – {{fdate|1 January 2000|MDY}}) was an American [[Biology:Entomology|entomologist]], [[Biology:Bacteriologist|bacteriologist]], and [[Biology:Bryology|bryologist]]. She collected thousands of examples of Maryland mosses, including the first examples of a number of species in Maryland. A moss, ''Desmatodon fisherae'', and an insect, ''[[Biology:Mycetophila fisherae|Mycetophila fisherae]]'', were named for her.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal|last=Darigo|first=Carl E.|date=June 2010|title=Elizabeth Gault Fisher—A Maryland Amateur Bryologist|url=http://www.bioone.org/doi/abs/10.1639/0007-2745-113.2.387|journal=The Bryologist|language=en|volume=113|issue=2|pages=387–388|doi=10.1639/0007-2745-113.2.387|s2cid=84873453|issn=0007-2745}}</ref>

== Early life ==
Elizabeth Gault Fisher was born on April 29, 1909, in Baltimore, Maryland. She was the daughter of Anne (née Baylor) and Dr. William A. Fisher, health commissioner of Baltimore.<ref name=":0" /><ref name="father">{{Cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/82299051/dr-fisher-82-surgeon-dies-at/ |title=Dr. Fisher, 82, Surgeon Dies At Hospital |page=42 |date=1956-10-18 |newspaper=The Evening Sun |via=Newspapers.com |access-date=2021-07-27}} {{Open access}}</ref> She attended the Calvert School, St. Timothy's School, graduating in 1927, and Roland Park Country School, graduating in 1930.<ref name=":0" /><ref name="countryschool">{{Cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/82297986/roland-park-pupils-to-make-social-bow-4/ |title=Roland Park Pupils to Make Social Bow |page=12 |date=1930-06-04 |newspaper=The Evening Sun |access-date=2021-07-27 |via=Newspapers.com}} {{Open access}}</ref><ref name="obit">{{Cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/82299465/elizabeth-galt-fisher-90/ |title=Elizabeth Galt Fisher, 90, entomologist, painter, hiker |date=2000-01-03 |page=5B |newspaper=The Baltimore Sun |via=Newspapers.com |access-date=2021-07-27}} {{Open access}}</ref> She studied at [[Organization:Cornell University|Cornell University]] beginning in 1930, and graduating with a Bachelor of Science in 1934, a master's degree and a [[Social:Doctor of Philosophy|Ph.D.]] in entomology in 1938.<ref name=":0" /><ref name="obit"/> Her dissertation was ''A Comparative Study of the Male Terminalia of the [[Biology:Mycetophilidae|Mycetophilidae]] of [[Biology:Nearctic realm|Nearctic]] America.''<ref name=":0" />

== Career ==
In 1939, Fisher went to Philadelphia to research moss.<ref name="obit"/> Fisher became a Research Associate in the Department of Insects at the [[Organization:Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University|Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences]]. As an entomologist, her specialty was glowworm flies and wrote papers describing numerous insect species, including the Appalachian glowworm fly (''[[Biology:Orfelia fultoni|Orfelia fultoni]]''). In 1942, she joined the Harriet Lane Clinic at Johns Hopkins Hospital as a biomedical research analyst in bacteriology.<ref name=":0" /><ref name="obit"/> After working for Johns Hopkins for three years, she left and bought a farm in Sykesville, Maryland, where she further pursued her interests in moss and entomology.<ref name="obit"/>

Fisher began collecting mosses and [[Biology:Marchantiophyta|liverworts]] in the early 1950s and continued until the early 1980s, amassing over 3,500 samples. She was the first to collect a number of species in Maryland, including ''[[Biology:Polytrichum strictum|Polytrichum strictum]], Gymnostomum aeruginosum, Brachythecium velutinum, Trematodon longicollis, Pohlia annotina, Ephemerum spinulosum, Funaria americana,'' and ''Pottia truncata.'' On forays with the Brooks Bird Club, she collected ''Desmatodon fisherae'' in Virginia in 1965 and ''Splachnum ampullaceum'' in West Virginia in 1968, extending the known southern range of the latter.<ref name=":0" />

She was a member of the Sierra Club, Wilderness Society and Cylburn Society.<ref name="obit"/>

== Personal life ==
She also painted, hiked, and made pottery.<ref name="obit"/>

== Death ==
Elizabeth Gault Fisher died on January 1, 2000, at Carroll County General Hospital in Westminster, Maryland.<ref name=":0" /><ref name="obit"/> She was buried at Green Mount Cemetery.<ref name="obit"/>

== References ==
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Fisher, Elizabeth Gault}}
[[Category:Bryologists]]

{{Sourceattribution|Elizabeth Gault Fisher}}