Diana Elizabeth Forsythe (November 11, 1947 – August 14, 1997) was a leading researcher in

anthropology Anthropology is the scientific study of humanity, concerned with human behavior, human biology, cultures, society, societies, and linguistics, in both the present and past, including archaic humans. Social anthropology studies patterns of behav ...

and a key figure in the field of science and technology studies. She is recognized for her significant anthropological studies of

artificial intelligence Artificial intelligence (AI) is the capability of computer, computational systems to perform tasks typically associated with human intelligence, such as learning, reasoning, problem-solving, perception, and decision-making. It is a field of re ...

and informatics, as well as for her studies on the roles of gender and power in computer engineering.

Early life and education

Forsythe was born in 1947 in

Santa Monica, California Santa Monica (; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Santa Mónica'') is a city in Los Angeles County, California, Los Angeles County, situated along Santa Monica Bay on California's South Coast (California), South Coast. Santa Monica's 2020 United Sta ...

to computer scientists Alexandra Illmer Forsythe and

George Forsythe George Elmer Forsythe (January 8, 1917 – April 9, 1972) was an American computer scientist and numerical analyst who founded and led Stanford University's Computer Science Department. Forsythe came to Stanford in the Mathematics Department i ...

. Her family moved to

Palo Alto, California Palo Alto ( ; Spanish language, Spanish for ) is a charter city in northwestern Santa Clara County, California, United States, in the San Francisco Bay Area, named after a Sequoia sempervirens, coastal redwood tree known as El Palo Alto. Th ...

in 1957, and she attended

Palo Alto High School Palo Alto Senior High School (commonly referred to locally as "Paly") is a comprehensive public high school in Palo Alto, California. Operated by the Palo Alto Unified School District, the school is one of two high schools in the district, the ...

. Forsythe attended

Swarthmore College Swarthmore College ( , ) is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Swarthmore, Pennsylvania, United States. Founded in 1864, with its first classes held in 1869, Swarthmore is one of the e ...

for her bachelor's degree in anthropology and sociology and earned her PhD in cultural anthropology and social demography from

Cornell University Cornell University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university based in Ithaca, New York, United States. The university was co-founded by American philanthropist Ezra Cornell and historian and educator Andrew Dickson W ...

in 1974. She completed fieldwork in

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

and produced a number of papers on anthropology in Europe before turning her attention to knowledge engineering and medical informatics in the United States. She spent a year as a

postdoctoral fellow A postdoctoral fellow, postdoctoral researcher, or simply postdoc, is a person professionally conducting research after the completion of their doctoral studies (typically a PhD). Postdocs most commonly, but not always, have a temporary academ ...

in the

Knowledge Systems Laboratory Knowledge Systems Laboratory (KSL) was an artificial intelligence research laboratory within the Department of Computer Science at Stanford University until 2007, located in the Gates Computer Science Building, Stanford. Work focused on knowledge ...

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

from 1987 to 1988. She worked as a research associate professor in the computer science and anthropology departments at the

University of Pittsburgh The University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) is a Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. The university is composed of seventeen undergraduate and graduate schools and colle ...

before joining the faculty at the

University of California, San Francisco The University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in San Francisco, California, United States. It is part of the University of California system and is dedic ...

. In 1994, she returned to Stanford as a visiting scholar for one year and then as a Systems Development Foundation Fellow at the Center for Biomedical Ethics in 1995. During this period she also started an

oral history Oral history is the collection and study of historical information from people, families, important events, or everyday life using audiotapes, videotapes, or transcriptions of planned interviews. These interviews are conducted with people who pa ...

project focusing on the experiences of women in computer science.

Death

In August 1997, Forsythe died during a hiking accident in northern Alaska.

Legacy

Following her death, memorials were held at the annual meetings of the

American Anthropological Association The American Anthropological Association (AAA) is an American organization of scholars and practitioners in the field of anthropology. With 10,000 members, the association, based in Arlington, Virginia, includes archaeologists, cultural anthropo ...

and the

Society for Social Studies of Science The Society for Social Studies of Science (4S) is a non-profit scholarly association devoted to the social studies of science and technology (STS). It was founded in 1975 and it has grown considerably over the years. In 2024, over 3,000 people ...

. In 2015, the Diana Forsythe Memorial fund began awarding the Forsythe Dissertation Award for Social Studies of Science, Technology, and Health to doctoral students in any social science field at the University of California, San Francisco or Stanford University.

Diana Forsythe Prize

The Diana Forsythe Prize was created in 1998 to recognize the best book or series of articles relating to feminist anthropological research on work, science, and technology. The Prize is awarded annually at the

meeting and is supported by the General Anthropology Division.

References

American women anthropologists Medical anthropologists Swarthmore College alumni Cornell University alumni University of California, San Francisco faculty American Quakers People from Santa Monica, California Accidental deaths from falls 1947 births 1997 deaths Stanford University faculty 20th-century American anthropologists 20th-century American women scientists 20th-century Quakers {{US-anthropologist-stub