Although Shoemaker earned degrees in history, political science and English literature, she had almost no interest in science until after she met and married geologist Eugene M. ("Gene") Shoemaker in 1950–51. She said later that his explanations of his work thrilled her. Despite her relative inexperience and her lack of a relevant scientific degree, Caltech had no objection to her joining Gene's team at the California Institute of Technology as a research assistant. Shoemaker had already shown herself to be unusually patient, and she had already demonstrated exceptional stereoscopic vision; both qualities were extremely valuable in a career looking for objects in near-earth space.