Mary Agnes Chase

Who was Mary Agnes Chase?

"Another woman who blows me away is Mary Agnes Chase (1869-1963), Smithsonian’s Custodian in Charge of the Herbarium at the U.S. National Museum. She was not only an eminent expert on grasses but also a suffragette. In fact, her political activities resulted in arrests, prison time and a hunger strike that ended when she was force-fed. Later, when faced with formidable professional opposition to her request to go on expedition to Panama, she raised her own funds and traveled alone [shocking]. Throughout her career she was energetic and undaunted by political and professional chauvinism in pursuit of her passion for botany and at the age of 93 published a three volume index of U.S. grasses, over 80,000 species."Source: http://blog.photography.si.edu/2009/03/08/formidable/