Dixy Lee Ray (September 3, 1914- January 2, 1994) was the seventeenth governor of Washington and the first woman to hold that position (for one term, from 1977 until 1981).
She was born with the name Margaret Ray and she changed it to 'Dixy Lee Ray' later in her life. She graduated from Stanford University. Ray was a marine biologist and taught at the University of Washington from 1947 until 1972. From 1963 until 1972, she was the director of Seattle's Pacific Science Center, guiding its future after the founding as part of the 1962 World's Fair. An advocate of nuclear power, she was appointed by Richard Nixon to chair the Atomic Energy Commission in 1973 and was the first woman to serve on the AEC. She lost in the 1980 primary election to then-State Senator Jim McDermott, who went on to lose in the general.
