Doris Mable Cochran was an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 herpetologist and custodian of the American Natural Collection at the Smithsonian Institution

Smithsonian Institution

The Smithsonian Institution is an educational and research institute and associated museum complex, administered and funded by the government of the United States and by funds from its endowment, contributions, and profits from its retail operations, concessions, licensing activities, and magazines...

 in Washington, D.C.

Washington, D.C.

Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....

 for many years. Born in North Girard, Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania

The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...

, she grew up in Washington after her father transferred there for a government job.

While an undergraduate student at George Washington University

George Washington University

The George Washington University is a private, coeducational comprehensive university located in Washington, D.C. in the United States...

 (A.B.1920, M.S. 1921), she worked for the War Department

United States Department of War

The United States Department of War, also called the War Department , was the United States Cabinet department originally responsible for the operation and maintenance of the United States Army...

 and became Aide in the Division of Herpetology at the United States National Museum. Although the museum was under the curatorship of Leonhard Hess Stejneger

Leonhard Hess Stejneger

Leonhard Hess Stejneger was a Norwegian-born American ornithologist, herpetologist and zoologist. Stejneger specialized in vertebrate natural history studies. He gained his greatest reputation with reptiles and amphibians....

, Cochran was responsible for the administration of the herpetological collections. In 1927 she became Assistant Curator and in 1942, Associate Curator just prior to Stejneger's death. She earned a Ph.D. at the University of Maryland

University of Maryland, College Park

The University of Maryland, College Park is a top-ranked public research university located in the city of College Park in Prince George's County, Maryland, just outside Washington, D.C...

 in 1933 with a thesis on blue crab myology

Myology

The muscular system consists of skeletal muscle that act to move or position parts of the body , or smooth and cardiac muscle that propels, expels, or controls the flow of fluids and contained substance.The British Myology Society is an example of a professional group promoting myology ...

. She became the first woman Curator in 1956 until her retirement in 1968 on her 70th birthday.

She studied art at the Corcoran Art School and developed her talents as an artist, becoming a scientific illustrator not only for her own works, but also for those of her colleagues.

Cochran's research was focused primarily on the herpetofauna of the West Indies and South America

South America

South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...

, particularly Brazil

Brazil

Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...

 and Colombia

Colombia

Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia , is a unitary constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments. The country is located in northwestern South America, bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the...

. She published 90 taxonomic papers between 1922 and her death (four days after her retirement in 1968) in which she described 8 new genera

Genus

In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...

 and 125 species

Species

In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring. While in many cases this definition is adequate, more precise or differing measures are...

 and subspecies

Subspecies

Subspecies in biological classification, is either a taxonomic rank subordinate to species, ora taxonomic unit in that rank . A subspecies cannot be recognized in isolation: a species will either be recognized as having no subspecies at all or two or more, never just one...

 as well as wartime booklets for the military identifying venomous reptiles. Her 20 years of studies of the West Indies culminated in The Herpetology of Hispaniola in 1941.

She went on to write mostly about South American frog

Frog

Frogs are amphibians in the order Anura , formerly referred to as Salientia . Most frogs are characterized by a short body, webbed digits , protruding eyes and the absence of a tail...

s in Frogs of Southeastern Brazil in 1954 and Frogs of Colombia in 1970 (posthumously). Her most popular book was Living Amphibians of the World in 1961. Cochran personally collected over 3,000 frogs in an expedition to Brazil.

Cochran was the second person to be elected a distinguished fellow of the American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists

American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists

The American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists is an international organization devoted to the scientific studies of ichthyology and herpetology...

.

Partial list of published works

• 1930 : Cold-blooded vertebrates (Smithsonian institution, New York)
• 1934 : Herpetological collections from the West Indies, made by Dr. Paul Bartsch under the Walter Rathbone Bacon scholarship, 1928-1930 (Smithsonian institution, New York).
• 1935 : The skeletal musculature of the blue crab, Callinectes sapidus Rathbun (Smithsonian institution, New York).
• 1941 : The Herpetology of Hispaniola (U.S. Govt. print. off., Washington).
• 1954 : Frogs of Southeastern Brazil (Smithsonian Institution, Washington).
• 1961 : Living Amphibians of the World (Doubleday, Garden City, N.Y.).
• 1961 : Type specimens of reptiles and amphibians in the U.S. National Museum (Washington).
• 1970 : Frogs of Colombia (Smithsonian Institution, Washington).
• 1970 : with Coleman J. Goin (1911-1986) The New Field Guide of Reptiles and Amphibians; more than 200 photographs and diagrams (Putman, New York).

External links

Artists at Work: Creativity at the Smithsonian

Smithsonian Institution Archives: Record Unit 7151 Doris Mable Cochran Papers,circa 1891-1968

A Chronology of the American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists