After completing doctoral research, Clark received a Fulbright Scholarship to pursue ichthyological studies at the Marine Biological Station in Hurghada, on the northern Red Sea Coast of Egypt. In 1949, under an Office of Naval Research program to undertake scientific research in Micronesia, Clark carried out fish population studies in Guam, the Marshall Islands, the Palau islands, the Northern Mariana Islands, and the Caroline Islands.

During her years of graduate study, Clark carried out research at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in La Jolla, the American Museum of Natural History in New York, the Woods Hole Marine Biological Laboratory in Massachusetts, and at the Lerner Marine Laboratory in Bimini. Undaunted, Clark went on to earn both a Master of Arts (1946) and Doctorate of Zoology (1950) from New York University. Eugenie initially sought to attend graduate school at Columbia University, but her application was rejected out of fear that she would eventually choose to leave her scientific career in order to focus on raising children. During summers, she studied at the University of Michigan Biological Station, and prior to graduate school, she worked for Celanese Corporation as a chemist. Academic and scientific life Įugenie Clark received a Bachelor of Arts in zoology from Hunter College (1942). The work of naturalist William Beebe further inspired Clark to become an oceanographer. An initial visit to the New York Aquarium at Battery Park inspired Clark to return to the aquarium every Saturday thereafter, fascinated by marine animals. įrom an early age, Clark was passionate about marine science, with many of her school reports covering topics in marine biology. She was the only student of Japanese descent in her schools. Ĭlark attended elementary school in Woodside, Queens, and graduated from Bryant High School in Queens, New York. Her father, Charles Clark, died when Eugenie was almost two years old, and her mother, Yumico Motomi, later married Japanese restaurant owner Masatomo Nobu. In addition to being regarded as an authority in marine biology, Clark was popularly recognized and used her fame to promote marine conservation.Įugenie Clark was born and raised in New York City. Clark was a pioneer in the field of scuba diving for research purposes. Eugenie Clark (– February 25, 2015), popularly known as The Shark Lady, was an American ichthyologist known for both her research on shark behavior and her study of fish in the order Tetraodontiformes.

Shark Lady by Ann McGovern