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Marjorie Hope Nicolson (1894—1981), was born February 18, 1894 in Yonkers, New York, USA, the daughter of Charles Butler Nicolson, editor-in-chief of the Detroit Free Press during World War I and later that paper's correspondent in Washington, DC, and Lissie Hope Morris.

She graduated from the University of Michigan with a B.A. degree in 1914, followed by her M.A. in 1918. Afterwards, she attended Yale, where she received a Ph.D. in 1920, followed by post-doc work at Johns Hopkins from 1923-1926.

Nicolson worked for her father at the newspaper for a while, as a drama critic, before becoming dean and professor at Smith College from 1929-1941. She left when she was hired as the first female graduate school professor at Columbia University, where she remained until 1962, eventually becoming chairman of the graduate department of English and Comparative Literature.

In 1940, she became the first woman president of Phi Beta Kappa. She was also president of the Modern Language Association in 1963.

An authority on 17th-century literature and thought, she was the author of numerous books, listed below. She was awarded the Pilgrim Award from the Science Fiction Research Association in 1971 for her pioneering work in the relationship between science and literature.

She died on March 9, 1981 in White Plains, NY.

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