Helen Niña Tappan Loeblich (October 12, 1917 – August 18, 2004) was an American micropaleontologist who was a professor of geology at the University of California, Los Angeles, a United States Geological Survey (USGS) biostratigrapher, and a scientific illustrator whose micropaleontology specialty was research on Cretaceous foraminifera.

[2][3] She received a Guggenheim Fellowship award in 1953 and travelled to Europe to focus on her studies of foraminifera with her husband.

At the University of Oklahoma, she met her future husband and long time scientific collaborator, Alfred R. Loeblich Jr, in chemistry class, in 1939.

When her husband was drafted in 1942, Tappan Loeblich became the first female professor at Tulane University's College of Arts and Sciences.

After the war they moved to Washington DC and she continued her work with the United States Geological Survey (USGS) on the NabyOil Project in the naval petroleum reserve of the Alaskan North Slope.

Due to the USGS and their policy of not allowing work outside of the US, Tappan Loeblich took a leave of absence in order to join her husband in Europe.

Foraminifera are useful in terms of biostratigraphy, as they show fairly significant evolutionally development, so different subspecies are found at different times.

Her husband Alfred began work on a micropaleontological program at Chevron Oil Field Research Company.

Among their noteworthy publications, the 1941 article titled "New Arenaceous Foraminifera from the Woodbine Sand of Northern Texas” stands out as a seminal work.

This article provides a comprehensive analysis of a recently unearthed clay formation and the diverse array of species it contains.

Tappan Loeblich received the Paleontological Society Medal in 1983, the Woman of the Year Award in Natural Science from the Palm Springs Desert Museum in 1987, the Raymond C. Moore Medal for “Excellence in Paleontology” in 1984, and the 1982 Woman of Science Award from the UCLA Medical Center Auxiliary.

[2] Tappan Loeblich is also known for her books, landmark papers, articles and her scientific output, both as a sole author and collaborator.

In 1957, they won the Best Paper Award in the Journal of Paleontology after submitting their article "Correlation of the Gulf and Atlantic Coastal Plain Paleocene and Lower Eocene formations by means of planktonic Foraminifera."

Other thae those activities she also had the ability to brick patios, tiled her kitchen, hang wallpapers, build fishponds, made electrical repairs, planted trees and was involved in the Association of American Publishers Gardens.