Wonder Woman of the Week: Eugenie Clark

This week's Wonder Woman has us aching for Shark Week. Eugenie Clark is one of the most important marine biologists of the 20th Century and helped establish the field of shark research with her innovations to field research and contributions to her discipline. Much of what scientists now know about shark behavior and anatomy comes directly from Clark's field notes and shark fans' favorite week of the year would not be the same without her work.

Eugenie Clark began major field research with her study on fish populations in Micronesia in 1949. After the success of her study, Clark earned sponsorship for research elsewhere in the Pacific as well as the Mediterranean and the Red Sea throughout the first half of the 1950's. Her book Lady with a Spear- documenting her work across these three aquatic zones found popular success among readers and helped establish Clark as a household name among marine biologists.

Eugenie Clark returned to the United States and began working at the Cape Haze Marine Laboratory with several marine biologists from across the US and abroad. When Clark moved with the laboratory to Cape Haze, Florida in 1960, Clark began working more with sharks in the aquarium and out in the Caribbean and Atlantic Ocean. Clark continued to work as a professor of zoology and associate of the aquarium until retiring in 1999.

Eugenie Clark was one of the first people to use scuba equipment for oceanic research, pioneered research into shark repellent technology, and worked adamantly to preserve and protect important coral reef homes of shark populations around the world. Clark's approach to studying sharks helped shed new light on the animals that countered the popular belief of sharks as mindless killers and instead helped prove that they are largely peaceful fish.