Extraordinary Women Leaders in Speleology (EWLS)

"Courage is like — it’s a habitus, a habit, a virtue: you get it by courageous acts. It’s like you learn to swim by swimming. You learn courage by couraging." Marie M. Daly (1921–2003), Biochemist & the first African American woman in the US to earn a Ph.D. in chemistry. #ScienceWomen #WLeadership #ewls

Devillers is an internationally published photographer, writer, and caver with several articles in the National Geographic magazine, and photos in Reuters News and various books. In 2009 she co-created an on-going long-term project of exploration, promotion, and conservation of the caves of Haiti, which became a touring exhibit in 2014 right after she was featured in the Women Cavers Guidebook & Magazine. Carole is passionate, dedicated, and experienced and her contributions to EWLS make her a valuable asset on our team. We are glad to have you Carole! Thank you for supporting women in caving. #womencavers #ewls #speleology Read more about Carole here: ewls.org

National Park Service scientists anchored by microbiologist Hazel Barton study a series of underground lakes, which were discovered in the 1960s and aren't home to any animal life or even easily detectable microscopic organisms in Wind Cave. However, Barton discovered scarce but highly important bacteria in the lakes. She's beginning to analyze about six years of data to understand the bacteria survives, answer questions about how it interacted before multicellular organisms came along, and find new sources of antibiotics. "It has the potential to answer a lot of questions that we have in biology that you can't answer anywhere else because you have levels of complexity," she said. To gather the necessary samples, caving experience is crucial: It takes more than two hours for even the most adept cavers to reach Calcite Lake, the nearest body of water. "It's certainly not a route for the inexperienced," said park service scientist

“We must have perseverance and above all confidence in ourselves. We must believe that we are gifted for something and that this thing must be attained.” Marie Curie, Physicist & Chemist who conducted pioneering research on radioactivity. #ScienceWomen #WLeadership #ewls

Julie Meachen, the Natural Trap Cave excavation project chief paleontologist, is beginning to release details of some of the researchers' discoveries. Although no new species have been discovered, she said her project is more focused on recreating the floral makeup of the area over time. Gretchen Hurley, a geologist with the Bureau of Land Management's Cody field office, who manages the project at Natural Trap Cave said that bones are remarkably well-preserved due to the climate in the bottom of the cave and protection it provides from the elements. Read more about the progress of Natural Trap Cave here: trib.com OTHER SOURCES dmu.edu nps.gov #ewls #womencavers #ScienceWomen #WLeadership

“I didn’t want to just know the names of things. I remember really wanting to know how it all worked."  Elizabeth Blackburn, Biological Researcher at the University of California awarded the 2009 Nobel Prize in Physiology/Medicine. #ScienceWomen #WLeadership #ewls

Liz is a Australian cave diver and Underwater Cave photographer. She is apart of the Cave Diver Association of Australia in Mt Gambier region. She takes five hour dives west of Melbourne for regular weekend trips to provide perfect opportunities for underwater cave photography with in the crystal clear freshwater within the Australia waters. Liz enjoys diving in the salty waters outside of the Queenscliff for living near a temperate ocean it means the occasional winter trips with in the tropics that become partially mandatory.   She has won several underwater cave photography awards and also has had several publications some of her publications that her photography has been published in has been the Alert Diver 2012, The Weekend Australian Magazine January 2012, and the underwater speleology: Journal of the Cave Diving section of the NSS in January 2012.   Her publications of her excellent underwater cave diving photograph go back to Sports Diver Magazine in 2009. If y

Check out our Pinterest page to see more great gear posts: https://www.pinterest.com/pinterestewls/the-ladys-cave-gear-box/ #ewls #womencavers #speleology

"If women are to start moving towards that goal, we must believe in ourselves or no one else will believe in us; we must match our aspirations with the competence, courage and determination to succeed." Rosalyn S. Yalow, Medical Physicist and a co-winner of the 1977 Nobel Prize in Physiology/Medicine for development of the radioimmunoassay technique. #ScienceWomen #WLeadership #ewls

Etcia Goldberg hid her children in a Ukraine cave in for 344 days during the Holocaust. "She drew upon strong inner resources to keep from giving into despair -- telling her children stories about their homeland, celebrating their birthdays, speaking of dreams for the future.” writer Danielle Wolffe said. When Etcia left them in the cave to gather food and other supplies, they knew there was a strong chance she would be murdered above ground before she returned. Wilffe interviewed both children, now in their 70's, and both were emotionally affected when they spoke of those long hours. SOURCE huffingtonpost.com #ewls #womencavers #speleology

Mania Golberg hid in a  Ukraine cave for 344 days during the Holocaust. Just before that, she and her brother Dunia had to endure a major trauma. They had to flip the bodies of dead women massacred by a river in search for their mother. Danielle Wolffe wrote that “[We read stories like this not]  merely because people physically endure; but to learn from other people's spiritual endurance, to prove to ourselves that if had to contend with such horrors, we would retain the fragile seed of our humanity." SOURCES Image: https://www.google.com/culturalinstitute/asset-viewer/poland-lodz-mania-goldberg-dvora-li-and-her-three-children/2wF_L8hRr4rkpQ?hl=en huffingtonpost.com #ewls #womencavers #speleology

"In my day I was told women didn't go into chemistry. I saw no reason why we couldn't." Gertrude B. Elion, Biochemist & Pharmacologist who shared the 1988 Nobel Prize in Physiology/Medicine. #ScienceWomen #WLeadership #ewls