Alice Middleton Boring

Alice Middleton Boring was born in 1883 in Philadelphia. Her family originally settled in the Americas in the 17th century. Her relatives were involved in the Moravian Church, which would greatly influence Alice's upbringing.[2] Boring attended the Central Friends School, a coeducational school where she excelled in the sciences.[2]

After graduation Boring enrolled at Bryn Mawr College, where her sister had graduated in 1896. Bryn Mawr who was part of the Seven Sisters (colleges) and a was founded by Quakers, further spurned her interest in applying there.[2] She started her freshman year in 1900. She studied under the geneticist Nettie Stevens, and evolutionary Biologist Thomas Hunt Morgan. Morgan and Boring would co-write an article on frog embryos.[3] In 1904 Boring would publish her first academic work entitled, "Closure of Longitudinally Split Tubularia Stems."[4] Boring continued her educational journey at Bryn Mawr College where she would receive her Master's degree and her Phd.[2] Boring continued to work with Stevens throughout her graduate studies where they both focused on the study of Flatworms.[5] Boring did attend University of Pennsylvania for less than a year where she studied under Edwin Conklin, however she decided to continue her studies at Bryn Mawr after Conklin left.[6] Before her graduation from Bryn Mawr College, Boring would teach biology for a year at Vassar College.[6] In 1907 Boring attended University of Würzburg and Naples Zoological Station. While in Europe Boring would study under Theodor Boveri and Anton Dohrn.[7] After studying in Italy and Germany, Boring would graduate from Bryn Mawr College in 1910. She would teach at University of Maine as an instructor for 1911, an assistant professor from 1911-1913 and the as an associate professor from 1913-1918.[8] While at University of Maine, Boring would collaborate and work with Raymond Pearl, and co-author numerous papers with him, including a paper on Ascaris.[9] She would also collaborate with Pearl and co-author papers on Fowl.[10][11][12] Boring was a supporter of Women's suffrage.[5]

In 1918 was appointed an assistant professor of biology at Peking Union Medical College, her appointment came from the Rockefeller Foundation.[5] Boring would teach at Peking Union Medical College for two years before returning to teach zoology at Wellesley College.[5] Disappointed after returning to the United States, Boring worked hard to return to China, through Wellsley she accepted a two year teaching post at Peking University, which would later be known as Yenching University. After her initial two years were up she stayed at the university. Boring would take furlough from 1928-1929, and return home during a rise of nationalist tensions in China.[5] During this year of furlough she would continue her research at the University of Pennsylvania, where she would work with and consult with Clifford H. Pope and G.K. Noble.[5] In 1930 she became the acting dean of the College of Natural Sciences.[5] Between 1930-1950 Boring would publish 21 papers in Peking Natural History Bulletin [5] Boring would teach a plethora of students who would go onto have prestigious careers, including Wu Jieping, Tang Xi Xue, Laurence T. Wu, Frederick F. Kao.

Borings work was interrupted during the Second Sino-Japanese War. Despite the occupation of Beijing by the Japanese, Boring continued to teach.[5] She also continued to publish research with Pope and continued to work on the taxonomy of Chinese amphibians. She specifically study the Bufo bufo, and the Rana nigrolineata, which led her to publish numerous journal articles.[13][14][15] After Pearl Harbor things would drastically change for Boring. She would be forced to move to a compound foreign faculty. In March 1942 she and her foreign faculty were forced to leave the university.[5] On March 25, Boring boarded Japanese trucks that would take her and other foreigners to the Weihsien Civilian Assembly Center.[5] On August 24, Boring would be repatriated back to the United States.

Boring taught histology at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeon which ended in June, 1945.[5] She would then teach as a visiting professor at Mount Holyoke College as a visiting professor of Zoology.[5] Boring would return to Yenching University in 1946 when it was safe for foreigners to return. However she found herself in the middle of the Chinese Civil War. In 1950 Boring would leave China for the last time.[5] She returned to the United States, and began taking care of her ill sister. In 1951-1953 Boring would teach at Smith College. She returned the following year and work with numerous charities including League of Women Voters, American Friends Service Committee, The Cambridge Civic Association, and American Civil Liberties Union. She was diagnosed with Cerebral arteriovenous malformation. She died on September 18, 1955 from a suspected Cerebral thrombosis.

• Handbook of North China Amphibians and Reptiles (1932) with Ch'eng-chao Liu and Shu-ch’un Chou
• Survey of Chinese Amphibia (1940) with Clifford Hillhouse Pope
• Chinese Amphibians: Living and Fossil Forms (1945)

• Kraig Adler (1989). Contributions to the History of Herpetology, Society for the study of amphibians and reptiles : 202 p.
• Ogilvie, Marilyn Bailey; Choquette, Clifford J. (1999). A Dame Full of Vim and Vigor: A Biography of Alice Middleton Boring; Biologist in China. Harwood. ISBN 978-90-5702-575-4.