08/19/2025
Dr. Margaret Rossiter Obituary
Dr. Margaret W. Rossiter, of Ithaca, NY and Melrose MA, Professor of History of Science Emerita at Cornell University passed away unexpectedly on August 3rd 2025 while recuperating from a fall last December. Among nine books she wrote, Dr. Rossiter was world renowned for her groundbreaking trilogy on Women Scientists in America and is credited with shining a light on the importance of women scientists who had been written out of the history books. In fact, Rossiter coined the term Matilda effect; meaning a bias against acknowledging the achievements of women scientists whose work is attributed to their male colleagues . Dr. Rossiter attended Melrose High School, was a National Merit Scholar and graduate of Radcliffe/Harvard class of 1966, worked at the Smithsonian in Washington D.C, then went on to earn her first master's degree at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. She earned her second Master’s degree at Yale in the field of American Scientific History. She completed her PhD at Yale in 1971 and took a fellowship at Harvard. In 1982 she published the first volume of Women Scientists in America. She was a visiting scholar at Cornell when she was awarded a MacArthur Fellowship, Cornell created a new department that aligned with her interests and offered her tenure. Dr. Rossiter’s additional honors include a Guggenheim Fellowship, The Women’s Prize given by the History of Science Society, and the George Sarton Medal. She was named a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Rossiter was the editor of Isis, the official journal of the History of Science Society, until 2003. She also continued teaching courses on agriculture, women in science and the history of science at Cornell until her retirement in 2017. She became the Marie Underhill Noll Professor of History of Science Emerita and Graduate School Professor. Said M. Susan Lindee, a historian of science at the University of Pennsylvania, “It is not only women in science who have much to learn from Rossiter’s research, we have to look at her past work carefully and re-examine all those brilliant strategies that women used to contest institutional power, which was oriented around preventing them from succeeding.”
She was predeceased by her twin brother Charles A. Rossiter Jr. of CT and her parents Mary (Madden) Rossiter and Charles Rossiter Sr., of Melrose. She leaves behind several dear friends, Sally Gregory Kohlsledt, Sara Tjossen and Rachel Maines, to name a few and her cousins Sherry Evers of Lubec, ME and Saugus, MA and daughters Hannah and Meg (Kourtney); Kate Bauer (Graham) and husband Michael of Lorton, VA, Adele Imber (Rossiter) and Family of Potomac, MD; Peter Graham, wife Jen, and daughters Molly and Bella of Lincoln, ME; Steven Graham of Waterville, ME and Edward Madden and wife Chimere Madden of East Millinocket, ME.
In Lieu of flowers, donations can be made in her memory to: The Margaret Rossiter Women In Science Award Fund at the Cornell University College of Arts & Sciences. Gifts can be made online or through the mail and sent to Cornell University P.O Box 37334 Boone IA 50037-0334
Funeral services will be held from the Weir-MacCuish Funeral Home, 144 Salem St, Malden on Friday August 15th at 10am with a later visitation on the same day from 6-8pm There will be a mass honoring Dr.Rossiter on Saturday August 16th at 10 am at Incarnation Church at 429 Upham St. Melrose, MA followed by an interment at Holy Cross Cemetery.
