The Resume

(May 4, 1922-February 25, 2015)
Born in New York City, New York
Ichthyologist
Known for her research on shark behavior
Wrote 'Lady with a Spear' (1953) and 'The Lady and the Sharks' (1969)

Why she might be annoying:

She was married five times, divorced four times.
She performed a dissection on a still-living manta ray.
Despite the many discoveries she made about sharks, she never solved one of her pet riddles: determining the role of a shark's abdominal pores.

Why she might not be annoying:

She inspired William and Anne Vanderbilt to establish the Mote Marine Laboratory in Sarasota, Florida (1955).
She taught Crown Prince Akihito to snorkel.
She pioneered using relays of divers to observe fish for extended periods of time, sometimes entire days.
She observed 'sleeping' sharks, disproving the notion that sharks had to move to breathe.
Contrary to the popular image of sharks as mindless killing machines, she taught them to press a target for a food reward, then to distinguish between targets of different colors and shapes.
She had four species of fish named after her, including one shark, Squalus clarkae, aka Genie's dogfish.
She was scuba diving to conduct research until a year before her death.

Credit: C. Fishel

Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

• 20th Century Scientists
• 21st Century Scientists
• C. Fishel's Profiles [Series 88]
• I am on a U.S. Postage Stamp [A-C]
• I Attended NYU
• I Died in 2015 (Ranked: 92)
• I Have Lung Cancer
• I Married and Divorced in the Same Calender Year
• I Married at Least Five Times [I Do! I Do! I Do! I Do! I Do!]
• I Married for Less than Two Years
• I Married in 1970
• I Married in 1997
• I Was Buried at Sea
• I was Cremated
• Nobody Told Me I'm Old
• Our Marriage Didn't Make It To Our First Anniversary
• Profiles 54501-54750 (Ranked: 54518)
• Scientists
• We Died on the Same Day (Ranked: 20150225)

Year In Review:

In 2023, Out of 3 Votes: 0% Annoying
In 2022, Out of 5 Votes: 20.0% Annoying