Trotter, Mildred, 1899-1991

Person

Trotter, Mildred, 1899-1991

1899-1991

Mildred Trotter is regarded as one of the most eminent 20th century contributors to the field of physical anthropology, especially to knowledge about human bone and hair. A native of Pennsylvania, she received her bachelor's degree from Mount Holyoke College in Massachusetts. She joined the Washington University School of Medicine Department of Anatomy in 1920 as a researcher and her subsequent work here was applied towards a Ph.D., which she received in 1924. Her full time teaching career began that same year, collaborating with Robert J. Terry in the gross anatomy curriculum. In this capacity, Trotter guided medical students for over fifty years in the exacting art of dissection.

Trotter's research efforts have led to findings that have proven useful not only to clinical medicine, but also to fields such as forensic science, physical anthropology, and archaeology. She contributed much of what is known today about human skeletal structure and density, and particularly the characteristics of long limb bones. Trotter was named to a full professorship in 1946, thus making her the first woman to achieve this rank at Washington University School of Medicine. She was a visiting fellow, lecturer, and professor at several universities in this country and abroad and a consultant to the U.S. Armed Forces. She became a professor emerita in 1967.

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Enter into Bernard Becker Medical Library Database, an Archive to Memory database at Washington University in St. Louis, December 16, 2019 1:20 PM

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