Dixy Lee Ray

Common card · No. 361807

Dixy Lee Ray (born Marguerite Ray, September 3, 1914 – January 2, 1994) was an American academic, zoologist, scientist, and politician who served as the 17th governor of Washington from 1977 to 1981. She was the state's first female governor and was in office during the 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens. A graduate of Mills College and Stanford University, where she earned a doctorate in biology, Ray became an associate professor at the University of Washington in 1957. She was chief scientist aboard the schooner SS Te Vega during the International Indian Ocean Expedition. Under her guidance, the nearly bankrupt Pacific Science Center was transformed from a traditional, exhibit-oriented museum to an interactive learning center, and returned to solvency. In 1973, Ray was appointed chairman of the United States Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) by President Richard Nixon. Under her leadership, research and development were separated from safety programs, and Milton Shaw, the head of the powerful...

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