Ursula Bailey was born inBradford, Vermont, on August 20, 1921, to Harold Leslie Bailey and Alice M. Bailey.[12][13] Her childhood near theWhite Mountains ofNew Hampshire, where, as she recalled in 1997, sunsets "shone with a pink-purple afterglow," inspired her with a love of the outdoors, but did not, at first, spark an interest in geology.[12] While studying history atTufts University, she took a geology class to fulfill her science requirements and was taken by the subject. She asked her geology professor to change majors to geology, but he refused (he told her she should learn how to cook) so she added geology, math and physics courses to her schedule.[12] She graduated with a bachelor's degree in history fromTufts University in 1943. She then attended Harvard University-Radcliffe, earning a master's degree in geology in 1946.
Following World War II, she moved to Chicago, where she was a research associate at the University of Chicago,[12] working withJulian Goldsmith.[14] She was briefly married to Lloyd Chaisson, a dental student at the University of Chicago.[12]
She then returned to Harvard, to work on her Ph.D. in geology. While at Harvard she worked alongside her second husband,Thomas Crockett Marvin (June 28, 1916 – July 1, 2012), whom she married in 1952. They prospected for ore deposits in Brazil and Angola starting in 1953.[12] After returning to the United States in 1958, she taught mineralogy at Tufts for two years before she was offered a job researching meteorites at Harvard.[12] She was appointed to a permanent research staff position at theSmithsonian Astrophysical Observatory in 1961 and received a Ph.D. in geology from Harvard in 1969.[8]
She authored the 1973 bookContinental Drift: Evolution of a Concept[15] and authored over 160 research papers. Her key contributions in planetary science concentrated on studies of meteorites and lunar samples. Her publications include analysis of oxidation products ofSputnik 4 to determine mineralogical alteration over exposure time with applications to iron meteorites.[16] She was also involved with numerous studies of returned samples from both the American and Russian lunar programs, including from theApollo 12,[17]Apollo 15,[18]Apollo 16[19][20] missions, and fromLuna 16[21] andLuna 20.[22]
She traveled to Antarctica for three of the earlyANSMET surveys[23] and analyzed the firstlunar meteorite,Allan Hills A81005.[24] She was the first woman on the American team that conducted research there.[12] Because of her contributions to research in Antarctica, a small mountain on the ice sheet was named for her,Marvin Nunatak.
She served as a trustee atTufts University from 1975 to 1985, and was an emerita trustee of the university.[25]
^Marvin, Ursula B. (1974).Continental drift : the evolution of a concept (2. print., with corrections ed.). Washington, DC: Smithsonian Inst. Press.
^Marvin, Ursula (1 Sep 1963). "Mineralogy of the oxidation products of the Sputnik 4 fragment and of iron meteorites".Journal of Geophysical Research.68 (17):5059–5068.Bibcode:1963JGR....68.5059M.doi:10.1029/JZ068i017p05059.
^Marvin, Ursula B.; Lindstrom, Marilyn M.; Bernatowicz, T. J.; Podosek, Frank A.; Sugiura, Naoji (1987). "The composition and history of breccia 67015 from North Ray Crater".Journal of Geophysical Research.92 (B4): E471.Bibcode:1987JGR....92E.471M.doi:10.1029/JB092iB04p0E471.
^Marvin, Ursula B.; Lindstrom, Marilyn M. (1983). "Rock 67015: A feldspathic fragmental breccia with KREEP-rich melt clasts".Journal of Geophysical Research.88 (S02): A659.Bibcode:1983LPSC...13..659M.doi:10.1029/JB088iS02p0A659.
^Reid, John B.; Taylor, G. Jeffrey; Marvin, Ursula B.; Wood, John A. (January 1972). "Luna 16: Relative proportions and petrologic significance of particles in the soil from Mare Fecunditatis".Earth and Planetary Science Letters.13 (2):286–298.Bibcode:1972E&PSL..13..286R.doi:10.1016/0012-821X(72)90104-5.
^Taylor, G.Jeffrey; Drake, Michael J; Wood, John A; Marvin, Ursula B (April 1973). "The Luna 20 lithic fragments, and the composition and origin of the lunar highlands".Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta.37 (4):1087–1106.Bibcode:1973GeCoA..37.1087T.doi:10.1016/0016-7037(73)90203-2.
^Marvin, Ursula (Dec 1979). "Meteorites on Ice: Preliminary Report on the 1978-1979 Antarctic Field Season".Meteoritics.14:486–487.Bibcode:1979Metic..14..486M.
^Marvin, Ursula B. (September 1983). "The discovery and initial characterization of Allan Hills 81005: The first lunar meteorite".Geophysical Research Letters.10 (9):775–778.Bibcode:1983GeoRL..10..775M.doi:10.1029/GL010i009p00775.
