Florence Robinson Weber

As long as she and her husband were physically capable, they led an active lifestyle that included, but was not limited to, skiing, canoeing, kayaking, and traveling the world. Weber spent the last nine years of her life in the Pioneer's home where she died at the age on January 18, 2018 at the age of 96.

Florence was a co-author to preliminary geologic maps of the Livengood quadrangle that was published in 1971. She also published a series of detailed geologic maps of the Fairbanks area together with Troy Pé in 1976. In 1986m, she became a project leader for the Alaska Mineral Resource Assessment Program (AMRAP) in the Livengood area.

Weber's main area of expertise was the Yukon–Tanana Terrane, and in the 40 years she worked for USGS, Weber had the opportunity to partake in various studies. Weber wrote multiple reports that examined numerous routes for roads proposed across Alaska. Additionally, she co-authored the first geologic map of Fairbanks Quadrangle in 1966, and the engineering geology maps for the proposed trans-Alaska pipeline route through interior Alaska in 1971. Florence joined the Geological Society of America in 1950 and was elected to Fellowship in the Society in 1967

Upon Weber's return to Alaska in 1956 she proceeded to land her seaplane on many undiscovered lakes subsequently naming many of her discoveries. Weber was featured in a National Geographic article in 1957, in which she was one of six women and one man who travelled down the Yukon River from Whitehorse to Eagle by Folboat. In August 1959, Weber married Albert Weber and together they moved to Fairbanks, Alaska. Their home acted as a communications center during the flood in 1967.

Weber was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the only child of a couple who originated from England and Germany. In school Florence met lifelong friend, Florence (Rucker) Collins, who accompanied her on every adventure, including getting their pilots' and automobile licenses and heading to Alaska together in 1948.

Weber graduated from high school and attended the University of Chicago (UC) where she graduated with an undergraduate degree in geology in 1943. After graduating Weber started a temporary job with Shell Oil in Houston. It was during this time that Weber decided to pursue obtaining a pilot's license after being inspired by an exhibit of US warplanes. After the war, she returned to continue her studies at UC and graduated with a masters' degree in geology in 1948. Shortly after graduating, she secured a position in Alaska with the Naval Oil Unit of the US Geological Survey. Florence explored Alaska thoroughly, taking part in multiple long river trips in the Arctic, and using her pilot's license to observe Alaska from bird's eye view.

Weber spent much of her early career in Alaska studying the structure and stratigraphy of the test wells in the Naval Petroleum Reserve No. 4 (NPR-4). The NPR-4 consisted of mostly oil and petroleum reserves and was established in 1923 by the United States federal government as a way to secure fuel in the event of war. Weber then accepted a temporary job for Shell Oil in Houston prior to accepting a job with the US Geological Survey in 1949, which was posted in Alaska. Weber continued to work in Alaska until 1954 when the Survey moved their office to Washington D.C. Florence proceeded to work in the office, writing reports for 2 years which resulted in what is known as the 12 chapters of USGS Professional Paper 305, discussing the subsurface and engineering geology aspects of the USGS exploration between 1944 and 1953. In order to return to fieldwork, she made use of her Pilots license and offered the Survey a special service of access to the interior of Alaska via seaplane.

Florence Robinson Weber (August 26, 1921 – January 18, 2018) was an American geologist, pilot, and adventurer, whose work contributed greatly to Alaskan geology. Weber was a co-author on the first geologic map of the Fairbanks Quadrangle, and the engineering geology maps for the trans-Alaska pipeline route.