Born: 27 June 1869, United States
Died: 5 December 1921
Country most active: United States
Also known as: NA
This biography, written by Sara Schechner and staff of the Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments, Harvard University, is shared with permission.
Dr. Caroline Burling Thompson–more commonly called Miss C. B. Thompson by her male scientific peers–was an American entomologist at Wellesley College.
Born Germantown, PA, June 27, 1869, Thompson earned a Bachelor of Science in Biology from the University of Pennsylvania in 1898 and a PhD in the same field in 1901.
Her career took her to Wellesley College where she was appointed Instructor of Zoology, 1901; promoted to associate professor, 1909, and then professor, 1916.
Her research focus was on ants’ brains; termites’ brains, the origin of castes of common termites and honey bees. In 1910 she was appointed a delegate to the international zoological congress in Graz and spent the summer doing research in Austria. In 1917 she becam an official collaborator of the Branch of Forest Entomology, Bureau of Entomology, US Department of Agriculture. She also conducted biological research at the marine laboratories in Naples, Italy, and Woods Hole, Massachusetts.
Her research was hindered by poor health, and she died in Wellesley, MA on December 5, 1921.