Venus may be far too hostile an environment for plants and animals but
it now boasts a crater named after a distinguished botanist and a zoologist.
The late Irene Manton of the University of Leeds set up the first laboratory
in the world for studying plants with electron microscopes, while her sister
Sidnie, of King鈥檚 College, London, was considered the world鈥檚 greatest expert
on the higher level classification of arthropods.
The naming of Manton Crater was agreed this summer by the US Geological
Survey. Nominations were invited for notable women, because Venus is a 鈥榝emale鈥�
planet, and because most planetary features bear male names. The Manton
sisters were proposed by friends both in the US and Britain.
