Edith Marion Patch

Edith Marion Patch (27 July 1876–1954) was an American entomologist and writer. Born in Worcester, Massachusetts, she received a degree from the University of Minnesota in 1901 and originally embarked on a career as an English teacher before receiving the opportunity to organize the entomology department at the University of Maine. She became the head of the entomology department in 1904, despite misgivings from several male colleagues about having a female department head, and she remained in this post until her 1937 retirement. Edith Patch is recognized as the first truly successful professional woman entomologist in the United States. Patch subsequently earned her master's degree from the university in 1910 and later received a Ph.D. degree from Cornell University in Ithaca, New York in 1911. During her career, she was recognized as an expert in the study of aphids and published Food Plant Catalogue of the Aphids in 1938. She was elected president of the American Nature Study Society and in 1930 became the first female president of the Entomological Society of America. Patch's residence in Old Town, Maine, was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2001.