Early Women In Science Cephalopod Reseacher Jeanne Villepreux-Power

"Us? We're just doing the usual, walking on the beach in large hats with fruits and flowers and whatnot -- veils -- on 'em." Fellow nerds, join my FB group where we dress up as 19th century lady naturalists and eat up the science and teacake: Baltimore Victorian Natural Historian Cosplay.

Which brings me to my topic: an early women in marine science, women oceanographers. It's a recent thing (or so I thought, starting with Sylvia Earle, my hero and the reason I studied marine science at Smith. I sat in the audience with her at Harvard a few years ago for a lecture on marine algae and it involved everything in my power not to leap fangirl-cat-like over a few auditorium chairs to sit at the feet of Her Deepness).

But no. "The mother of aquariophily" was Jeanne Villepreux-Power: 

The lady is on the right (with necessary Victorian portrait column holding up -- is that an urn? What a bustle.).

Ladyfriends, sit down, Jeanne Villepreux-Power: SHE INVENTED THE AQUARIUM.  She invented the aquarium because it was as necessary for her studies of the paper nautilus, Argonauta argo (above, left). And what have you done lately?

"Study me, Jeanne Villepreux-Power, though SciFriday's Cephalopod Week won't start for another century."

Are you seriously still standing?  THIS IS AMAZING. I'M AT HYPE LEVEL SYLVIA EARLE.
HOW DID I NOT KNOW about Mme Powers? Oh, riiiiight, because -- feminist fairytale warning -- "a shipwreck in 1843 carried most of her books and writings to the bottom of the ocean."

Here are the names of other early women in science who happened to be cephalopod researchers -- or is it cephalopod researches who happened to be early women in science? There's like, a list.