Dr. Helen Belyea was the first Canadian woman to conduct geological fieldwork alongside male scientists, and the second woman to reach the title of Geologist (the highest scientific position at the time) at the Geological Survey of Canada. Belyea became single-handedly responsible for the discovery and charting of many of Alberta’s oil reserves, and her contributions directly led to much of the province’s resource-based wealth.
Belyea grew up in New Brunswick, a province well known for their many exquisite geological outcrops; a perfect environment for inspiring a love of geology in young scientific minds. She received her B.A. and M.A. at Dalhousie University in Halifax before achieving a Ph.D. at Northwestern University in Illinois. She started her career as a lab assistant before joining the Women’s Royal Canadian Navy Service in 1943, rising to the rank of lieutenant. In 1945, she was hired by the Geological Survey of Canada (GSC) and embarked on her first field season in 1950. This came after oil was discovered in Leduc, Alberta in 1947. Dr. Belyea was chosen because of her specialization in petroleum geology, and because of her equestrian experience growing up. Much of this particular field season was spent on horseback, limiting the GSC’s pool of qualified scientists and making Belyea a natural choice. This was only the first of many expeditions Belyea would partake in throughout her career.
Belyea in 1955 (2nd from right). Courtesy Glenbow Museum Archive.
Though her personal interest was in the macrofaunal assemblages of the Western Interior Seaway, Dr. Belyea used her analyses for the “practical” purposes of mapping the locations of oil deposits. Despite the fact that women were thought not to be physically capable of fieldwork, and especially of carrying geological samples for the extended periods of time required, Belyea’s fieldwork proved vital to the field of economic geology in Canada. After more than proving her competence both in the field and in the lab, Belyea eventually became the co-founder of a GSC branch in Calgary. In 1960, Belyea was the first woman to be awarded the Barlow Memorial Medal by the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy, and Petroleum for her research into economic geology.
Dr. Belyea was a direct beneficiary of the strides Dr. Alice Wilson (Canada’s first woman geologist) had made throughout her career at the GSC, as she had personally advocated allowing women to conduct fieldwork with the GSC. Belyea herself was a large supporter of women in geology, and served as a direct mentor to another Canadian geologist, Dr. Frances Wagner, serving as her thesis supervisor while she was pursuing her Masters Degree. By the second half of the 20th century, more and more Canadian women were pursuing degrees in the male-dominated field of geology, and so the immeasurable success of women like Dr. Helen Belyea served as examples for other Canadian women to follow.
Post by Brigid Christison, @Brigidomorpha
Profile image courtesy of science.ca and used with permission. Available here.
“Geologists near Hummingbird Reef, Alberta, 1955.” Belyea is second from the right. Image courtesy Glenbow Museum Archive.
