Katherine Van Winkle Palmer (February 5, 1895 – September 12, 1982) was an American tertiary paleontologist, a scientist who studied fossils from the Cenozoic Era, and an accomplished geologist.

[1] Palmer is recognized for her field/doctoral study on Veneracean lamellibranches,[1] a class of bivalve molluska that include clams, scallops and oysters.

[2] During Palmer's time as the director of the PRI, she oversaw the publication of numerous Bulletins of American Paleontology as well as several issues of Palaeontographica Americana.

Jacob Van Winkle was one of the "First Twelve Men" who helped form the first official representative body of New York and New Jersey in 1641.

[3]Palmer Grew up in the small town of Oakville, Washington,[4] sharing a close relationship with her father who introduced her to the outdoors, and who was an important contributing factor in her pursuit of the sciences.

[6] For a short period, Katherine was working as a post-graduate lab assistant under Dr. Charles E. Weaver, who focused his study on Tertiary fauna.

[4] With Dr. Weaver's recommendation, Palmer applied for and received a Goldwyn Smith Fellowship (1918-1920) to accomplish graduate work at Cornell University under the East Coast Paleogene expert, Gilbert D. Harris (1864-1952).

As graduation arrived, Katherine received a Hecksher Fellowship in the years (1925-1927) to proceed with her work with Professor Harris on Paleogene fossils.

[3] Palmer left the legacy of her student days at Cornell University in the Sigma Delta Epsilon organization, which she founded in 1921 .

[3] During her long life Palmer had the opportunity to travel to many parts of the world for field study and collecting fossil Mollusca.

Palmer's research produced more than 150 publications, including Gastropoda of the Claibornian Mid-Eocene of the Southern United States (1937), The Mollusca of the Jackson Eocene of the Mississippi Embayment (Sabine River to Alabama River) (1946), and Catalogue of the Paleocene, and Eocene Mollusca of the Southern and Eastern United States (1965), to name a few.

[1] From letters received after her retirement it is clear that she was a widely loved and highly respected scientist whose influence had a lasting effect on her students and colleagues.

[9] While still a graduate student at Cornell University, Katherine Van Winkle met Ephraim L. Palmer (1888-1970), who was a professor of rural education and nature study.

Their youngest son Richard, commonly known as Robin Palmer, went on to outlive Katherine and died in 2010 after a life of prolific political activism, including an attempt to firebomb a bank in New York City as part of a failed Weather Underground plot.