SUSAN R. EATON

Geoscientist and conservationist; leader of the all-woman 2014-2017 Sedna Epic Expedition, which is aiming to snorkel the entire Northwest Passage.

My plan was originally to become a marine biologist, like my mother. She wasn’t a diver, but a marine mammal expert with Fisheries and Oceans Canada. Her specialty was fatty acids and lipids, and in the 1970s she worked at developing a synthetic alternative to whale oil. My sisters and I took turns going on field trips with her, so I was lucky enough to spend time with her spotting whales from military aircraft over the Nova Scotia coast, or on expeditions where DFO teams were shooting adult seals to study their organs. She was a working mother and a scientist, and unique in her generation.