Luella Agnes Owen

Luella Agnes Owen was a female pioneer in the fields of speleology, geography, and geology. She viewed these three disciplines not as separate sciences, but as three branches of a scientific trinity-and she devoted much of her life to this trinity. Owen had to overcome many obstacles and defy some of the conventions of her time to become a scientist, but she became one of the world's leading authorities on caves at a time when such a career was unusual for a woman. She is believed to have explored more caves than any other woman, and more than most men, of her time.