Irene Crespin was an Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

n geologist

Geology

Geology is the science comprising the study of solid Earth, the rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which it evolves. Geology gives insight into the history of the Earth, as it provides the primary evidence for plate tectonics, the evolutionary history of life, and past climates...

 and palaeontologist

Paleontology

Paleontology "old, ancient", ὄν, ὀντ- "being, creature", and λόγος "speech, thought") is the study of prehistoric life. It includes the study of fossils to determine organisms' evolution and interactions with each other and their environments...

.

Crespin was born in Kew, Victoria

Kew, Victoria

Kew is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 6 km east from Melbourne's central business district. Its Local Government Area is the City of Boroondara. At the 2006 Census, Kew had a population of 22,516....

 and was educated at Mansfield Agricultural High School and the University of Melbourne

University of Melbourne

The University of Melbourne is a public university located in Melbourne, Victoria. Founded in 1853, it is the second oldest university in Australia and the oldest in Victoria...

 where she was under the influence of Frederick Chapman

Frederick Chapman

Frederick Chapman was the inaugural Australian Commonwealth Palaeontologist.-Early life:Chapman was born in Camden Town, London, England and studied at Royal College of Science, London where he was initially an assistant to John Wesley Judd...

 who she became assistant to in 1927.

On 1 January 1936 she succeeded Chapman as palaeontologist in the Department of the Interior; she transferred to Canberra

Canberra

Canberra is the capital city of Australia. With a population of over 345,000, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The city is located at the northern end of the Australian Capital Territory , south-west of Sydney, and north-east of Melbourne...

 to be in contact with the Commonwealth's geological adviser Walter George Woolnough

Walter George Woolnough

Walter George Woolnough was an Australian geologist.Woolnough was born in Brushgrove, Grafton, New South Wales, and attended Sydney Boys High School, Newington College and the University of Sydney...

.

A street in the Canberra suburb of Banks

Banks, Australian Capital Territory

Banks is a suburb in the Canberra, Australia district of Tuggeranong. It is the most southerly suburb of Canberra. The suburb is named after Sir Joseph Banks , the botanist who accompanied Captain James Cook to the Pacific Ocean on which he entered Botany Bay in 1770. The suburb was gazetted on 12...

 is named Crespin Place in her honour. The Irene Crespin Prize for Palaeontology is awarded by The faculty of Science at the Australian National University

Australian National University

The Australian National University is a teaching and research university located in the Australian capital, Canberra.As of 2009, the ANU employs 3,945 administrative staff who teach approximately 10,000 undergraduates, and 7,500 postgraduate students...

 for excellence in undergraduate palaeontology.

Crespin was awarded the Clarke Medal

Clarke Medal

The Clarke Medal is awarded by the Royal Society of New South Wales for distinguished work in the Natural sciences.Named in honour of the Reverend William Branwhite Clarke, one of the founders of the Society...

 by the Royal Society of New South Wales

Royal Society of New South Wales

The Royal Society of New South Wales is a learned society based in Sydney, Australia. It was established as the Philosophical Society of Australasia on 27 June 1821...

in 1957.