{{short description|Australian marine biologist}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} {{Infobox scientist | image = Photograph-hope-macpherson-colour-portrait-by-vincent-barclay-552670-large.jpg | name = Hope Black | birth_name = Jessica Hope MacPherson | birth_date = 1919 | death_date = January 25, {{death year and age|2018|1919}} | death_place = Victoria Australia | citizenship = Australian | field = Malacology, marine biology | work_institution = National Museum of Victoria | alma_mater = University of Melbourne | known_for = First female curator at the National Museum of Victoria | author_abbreviation_bot = | author_abbreviation_zoo = | religion = | footnotes = }}
'''Jessica Hope Black''' ({{née}} '''MacPherson''', 1919 – 25 January 2018) was an Australian scientist, a marine biologist and malacologist.<ref name=":0"/><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://tributes.theage.com.au/obituaries/theage-au/obituary.aspx?n=hope-black&pid=188005579 |title=Hope BLACK's Obituary on The Age |date=30 January 2018 |website=The Age |access-date=2018-03-09}}</ref> In 1937 she started working at the National Museum of Victoria. Subsequently, she became Curator of Molluscs at the museum in 1946. One of the first four women to carry out research in the sub-Antarctic in 1959. She was the National Museum's first female curator. When she married in 1965, she was forced to leave the museum, and instead became a science teacher for thirteen years. In 2019 Lake Macpherson on Macquarie Island was named for her.
==Career== Appointed as Curator of Mollusks in 1946, Hope MacPherson was Australia's first female curator at the National Museum of Victoria.<ref name=":0">{{Cite news|url=https://collections.museumsvictoria.com.au/articles/8027|title=Hope Black nee Macpherson, Curator of Molluscs (1919-2018)|work=Museums Victoria Collections|access-date=2018-01-30}}</ref>
Her tenure was brought to a close prematurely, when in 1965 she married and became Hope Black, requiring her retirement from the Victorian public service as a result of the marriage bar.<ref name=":0" /> Subsequently, Black worked for 13 years as a science teacher.<ref name="museumvictoria2">{{cite web|url=http://museumsvictoria.com.au/about/mv-blog/mar-2012/hope-black-honoured/ |title=Hope Black honoured |publisher=Museum Victoria |date= |access-date=2014-08-14}}</ref>
==Work in marine biology== thumb|left|Portrait of Hope Black (circa 1950s) Hope Black was initially employed in 1937 at Museum Victoria by the support of the Carnegie Corporation. She worked on developing and preparing new display cases for the McCoy Hall dioramas.<ref name="museumvictoria1919">{{Cite web |url=http://museumvictoria.com.au/collections/themes/8027/hope-black-nee-macpherson-curator-of-molluscs-1919 |title=Browsing by theme 'Hope Black nee Macpherson, Curator of Molluscs (1919 - )' - Museum Victoria |access-date=2014-08-14 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140814152446/http://museumvictoria.com.au/collections/themes/8027/hope-black-nee-macpherson-curator-of-molluscs-1919 |archive-date=2014-08-14 |url-status=dead }}</ref> In 1947 Black collaborated to survey the Snowy River Gorge on horseback, prior construction of the Snowy Mountains Hydroelectric Scheme.<ref name="museumvictoria1919"/>
Between 1957–1963, Black carried out biological surveys of Port Phillip Bay, and her results are still used as baseline data from which to measure environmental change in the area.<ref name="museumvictoria2"/>
Black investigated the genus ''Teredo'', a group of marine bivalve mollusks known as "shipworms". She also surveyed edible molluscs in Victoria. Ultimately, her mollusc research lead to her writing the book ''Molluscs of Victoria'', which was published in 1962.<ref>{{cite book | last = Black | first =Hope | year = 1962 | title = Marine molluscs of Victoria. | location = Melbourne, Australia | publisher=Melbourne University Press }}</ref>
Notably, Black was also a member of a group of four women (also including Isobel Bennett, Susan Ingham and Mary Gillham) who were the first to carry out research in the sub-Antarctic in 1959.<ref name="museumvictoria2"/> She was inducted into the Victorian Honour Roll of Women in 2012.<ref>{{cite news|last=Morris|first=Deborah|title=Somerville woman named on honour roll|url=http://frankston-leader.whereilive.com.au/news/story/somerville-woman-named-on-honour-roll/|archive-url=https://archive.today/20121231034743/http://frankston-leader.whereilive.com.au/news/story/somerville-woman-named-on-honour-roll/|url-status=dead|archive-date=31 December 2012|newspaper=Frankston Standard Leader|date=9 March 2012}}</ref> In 2019 Lake Macpherson on Macquarie Island was named for her.
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==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== *[http://www.eoas.info/biogs/P003349b.htm Black, Hope (1919 - )], Encyclopedia of Australian Science
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Black, Hope}} Category:1919 births Category:2018 deaths Category:Australian women scientists Category:Australian public servants Category:University of Melbourne alumni Category:Scientists from Melbourne Category:Women Antarctic scientists Category:Women marine biologists Category:Australian marine biologists Category:Australian malacologists Category:Australian women curators