Laura Lee Weinzierl (née Lane; July 28, 1900 – September 28, 1928)[1] was an American petroleum geologist and micropaleontologist who worked in the Texas and Gulf Coast oil fields.

Laura Lee Weinzierl
A young white woman with bobbed curly hair, wearing an academic mortarboard cap and gown, with a round white collar
Laura Lee Lane, later Weinzierl, from the 1923 yearbook of the University of Texas at Austin
Born
Laura Lee Lane

July 28, 1900
Louisville, Kentucky
DiedSeptember 28, 1928 (age 28)
Houston, Texas
Occupation(s)Geologist, micropaleontologist
SpouseJohn Frederick Weinzierl (m. 1926)

Early life and education edit

Lane was born in Louisville, Kentucky.[2] She graduated from San Antonio High School in 1917, and earned a bachelor's degree in geology from the University of Texas at Austin in 1923.[3] At university, she was a charter member of the Beta chapter of Chi Upsilon, a geology honor society for women.[4][5]

Career edit

Lane worked for the Rio Bravo Oil Company for a summer during college. She was a micropaleontologist for Marland Oil Company. She studied Foraminifera to identify sites likely to contain oil and gas in the Texas and Gulf Coast regions.[6][7] She was a member of the American Association of Petroleum Geologists, the Society of Economic Paleontologists and Mineralogists[8] and a charter member of the Houston Geological Society.[9] She presented her research at the American Association of Petroleum Geologists meeting in Houston in 1924.[10]

Publications edit

Personal life edit

Lane married fellow geologist John Frederick Weinzierl in 1926. She died in 1928, in Houston, at the age of 28, from an asthma attack.[2] A collection of her papers and artifacts is in the natural history collection of Sam Houston State University.[6]

References edit

  1. ^ Biography via archives.datapages.com. Accessed March 27, 2024.
  2. ^ a b Deussen, Alexander (January 1929). "Memorial: Laura Lee Weinzierl". AAPG Bulletin. 13 (1): 94–95.
  3. ^ Ogilvie, Marilyn; Harvey, Joy (2003-12-16). The Biographical Dictionary of Women in Science: Pioneering Lives From Ancient Times to the Mid-20th Century. Routledge. pp. 1358–1359. ISBN 978-1-135-96343-9.
  4. ^ "New Fraternity is Organized". The Austin American. 1921-12-04. p. 18. Retrieved 2023-12-27 – via Newspapers.com.
  5. ^ Kortsha, Monica (November 20, 2017). "Women in UT Geology". Texas Geosciences. Retrieved 2023-12-27.
  6. ^ a b Hagerty, Michael (2023-07-13). "How a pioneering geologist helped transform the search for oil and gas — and the Texas economy". Houston Public Media. Retrieved 2023-12-27.
  7. ^ Vincent, Aude (2020). "Reclaiming the memory of pioneer female geologists, 1800–1929" (PDF). Supplement of Advances in Geosciences. 53: 129. Bibcode:2020AdG....53..129V. doi:10.5194/adgeo-53-129-2020.
  8. ^ "Society of Economic Paleontologists and Mineralogists". Journal of Paleontology. 3 (1): 111–116. 1929. ISSN 0022-3360. JSTOR 1298054.
  9. ^ Elllisor, Alva C. Rockhounds of Houston: An Informal History of the Houston Geological Society (1947): 13, 15.
  10. ^ "Geologists Hear Illustrated Talk; Spend Day in Discussion of Various Surface Indications". The Galveston Daily News. 1924-03-30. p. 8. Retrieved 2023-12-27 – via Newspapers.com.
  11. ^ Alexander Deussen, Laura Lee Lane (1925). "Hockley Salt Dome, Harris County, Texas". AAPG Bulletin. 9. doi:10.1306/3D9326EE-16B1-11D7-8645000102C1865D. ISSN 0149-1423.
  12. ^ Weinzierl, Laura Lee Lane; Applin, Esther Richards (December 1929). "The Claiborne Formation on the coastal domes". Journal of Paleontology. 3 (4): 384–410.