Famous American Botanists

John Muir was a Scottish-American naturalist, environmental philosopher, glaciologist, botanist, zoologist, and author. Nicknamed Father of the National Parks and John of the Mountains, Muir was an influential proponent of the preservation of wilderness in the US. He is credited with co-founding the American conservation organization, The Sierra Club. Muir is considered a hero by many environmentalists around the world.

Lynn Margulis was an evolutionary theorist, biologist, educator, and science author. She was a modern proponent of the significance of symbiosis in evolution. Along with British chemist James Lovelock, Margulis was the co-developer of the Gaia hypothesis. She was a strong critic of neo-Darwinism. In 2001, she was honored with the Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement. 

Luther Burbank was an American horticulturist and botanist. A pioneer in agricultural science, Luther Burbank developed over 800 varieties of plants and strains in an illustrious career that spanned 55 years. He is also credited with developing a spineless cactus that served as cattle feed. In 1986, Luther Burbank was made an inductee of the National Inventors Hall of Fame.

Ynes Mexia was a Mexican-American botanist best remembered for her large collection of specimens of plants and flora originating from the sites of Mexico, Peru, and Colombia. She collected more than 150,000 specimens over a period of 16 years, during which she encountered various challenges, including dangerous terrain, poisonous berries, earthquakes, and bogs. 

Remembered as the first president of the Leland Stanford Junior University, now known as Stanford University, David Starr Jordan was a reputed ichthyologist. An anti-war activist, too, who opposed America’s participation in World War I, he spent his later years as the chief director of the World Peace Foundation.

Asa Gray was an American botanist best remembered for authoring a book on botany, which came to be known as Gray's Manual. He also served as a professor at Harvard University and often met leading natural scientists of his time, including Charles Darwin. Asa Gray is widely regarded as the most prominent botanist of the 19th century.

Joseph Banks Rhine was an American botanist best remembered for his research and study of parapsychology. He is credited with founding Duke University's parapsychology lab, the Parapsychological Association (PA), the Rhine Research Center, and the Journal of Parapsychology.

William Bartram was an American ornithologist, botanist, explorer, and natural historian. He is best remembered for authoring an acclaimed book, which is now known as Bartram's Travels. The book chronicles Bartram's explorations of the British colonies in North America. William Bartram was also one of America's first ornithologists.

David Fairchild was an American plant explorer and botanist. He is credited with introducing over 200,000 exotic plants to the United States. He also introduced varieties of established crops, including soybeans, mangos, bamboos, dates, and pistachios. In 1933, the National Academy of Sciences honored him with the Public Welfare Medal.

John Bartram was an Anglo-American colonial botanist, explorer, and horticulturist. Regarded by some as one of the world's greatest natural botanists, Bartram is credited with starting one of America's first botanic gardens in 1728. The botanic garden, which is now referred to as Bartram's Garden, is a National Historic Landmark. 

Lester Frank Ward was an American paleontologist, botanist, and sociologist. He is best remembered for his service as the American Sociological Association's first president. Lester Frank Ward played an important role in bringing Sociology courses into the higher education system in America. 

Robert Whittaker was an American plant ecologist best remembered as the first person to put forward the five kingdom taxonomic classification, namely Animalia, Plantae, Protista, Fungi, and Monera. He also served as a teacher at Washington State College. During his career, Robert Whittaker was honored with several prestigious awards such as the Eminent Ecologist Award in 1981. 

Frederic Edward Clements was an American plant ecologist. He was a pioneer in the study of vegetation succession and plant ecology. He also served as a professor in prestigious institutions like the University of Nebraska and the University of Minnesota.

G. Ledyard Stebbins was an American geneticist and botanist. He is considered one of the 20th century's leading evolutionary biologists. Stebbins is credited with writing Variation and Evolution in Plants, which describes plant speciation and is considered his most important publication. For his contributions to science, G. Ledyard Stebbins received many awards including the prestigious National Medal of Science.

Liberty Hyde Bailey was an American botanist and horticulturist. He is best remembered for co-founding the American Society for Horticultural Science. Regarded as the father of rural journalism and rural sociology, Bailey is credited with playing an important role in the commencement of agricultural extension services, the nature study movement, the 4-H movement, and rural electrification.

Katherine Esau was a German-American botanist best remembered for her work on plant anatomy, for which she was honored with the prestigious National Medal of Science by President George Bush in 1989. Katherine Esau also made significant contributions as an author, lecturer, and scientist. 

Ruth Patrick was an American limnologist and botanist who specialized in freshwater ecology and diatoms. She is best remembered for developing methods to evaluate the health of freshwater ecosystems. She is also credited with founding numerous research facilities. She won many awards, including the National Medal of Science. Ruth Patrick is a National Women's Hall of Fame inductee.

Richard Goldschmidt was a geneticist best remembered for becoming the first person to attempt to integrate evolution, genetics, and development. He pioneered understanding of genetic assimilation, reaction norms, sex determination, dynamical genetics, and heterochrony. He is also credited with describing a nematode's nervous system.

Arthur Galston discovered use of TIBA in speeding-up flowering of soybeans and its defoliant-effect if used in higher-concentration. This led to development of the toxic-defoliant Agent Orange and its use by the UK and the US as part of herbicidal-warfare-program during Vietnam War. Galston’s ethical objections to use of Agent Orange eventually led American President Nixon to end its use.

Leading American botanist and ecologist, E. Lucy Braun, an expert on the forests of the eastern United States, was noted for her pioneering work in plant ecology. She advocated and made efforts to conserve natural areas and establish nature reserves. She served as a professor of University of Cincinnati and as the first woman President of Ecological Society of America.

German-American botanist, physician, and meteorologist George Engelmann is known for his study of Phylloxera Vastatrix. He is also noted for his botanical monographs, particularly his two major works on cacti and A Monography of North American Cuscutineae. He played vital role in elucidating flora of the west of North America that till such time was not much known to Europeans.

Paul Alan Cox is an American ethnobotanist best known for his scientific research which aims at discovering new medicines by simply studying patterns of illness and wellness among indigenous peoples. He is credited with founding the environmental nonprofit charitable organization, Seacology. Paul Alan Cox was honored with the prestigious Goldman Environmental Prize in 1997. 

American botanist and ecologist Henry Chandler Cowles is noted for his pioneering work in ecological succession in the Indiana Dunes of Northwest Indiana while serving as professor at the University of Chicago. His study led the area to gain international attention leading to efforts to preserve it. A field-study location of Cowles is presently named after him as Cowles Bog. 

American botanist and chemist John Torrey, who co-founded New York Lyceum of Natural History, became state botanist of New York and held several teaching positions, is noted for his studies on flora of North America. His works include Catalogue of Plants growing spontaneously within Thirty Miles of the City of New York and Flora of the Northern and Middle States.

Elizabeth Gertrude Britton was an American botanist, educator, and bryologist. She is best remembered for playing an important role, along with her husband Nathaniel Lord Britton, in creating the famous New York Botanical Garden. Elizabeth Gertrude Britton is also credited with laying the foundation of the American Bryological and Lichenological Society.

Almira Hart Lincoln Phelps was an American educator, scientist, author, and editor. She is best remembered for her botany writings, which influenced several other American women to be botanists like her daughter Augusta Newton Foote Arnold and contemporary Eunice Newton Foote. Almira Hart Lincoln Phelps' long life was dedicated to the education of women, especially young women.

Dennis Robert Hoagland was an American plant scientist and chemist. He is best remembered for his work in the fields of agricultural chemistry, plant nutrition, and physiology. From 1927 until his demise in 1949, Hoagland worked at the University of California, Berkeley as a Professor of Plant Nutrition. He is also known for developing Hoagland solution, an artificial nutrient solution.

Charles Edwin Bessey was an American botanist and educator. He is remembered for his work in prestigious education institutions like the Iowa Agricultural College and the University of Nebraska. Apart from working as a professor, he also served as the head dean and later as Chancellor of the University of Nebraska. Bessey is a Nebraska Hall of Fame inductee.

British-American plant physiologist Kenneth V. Thimann is best remembered for isolating and identifying the plant hormone auxin. Associated with Harvard University for most of his initial career, he later joined the University of California. His best-known works include Phytohormones on plant hormones and The Life of Bacteria on microbiology.

Orator F. Cook was an American entomologist, botanist, and agronomist. He is best remembered for his work on rubber and cotton cultivation. He is credited with coining the word speciation to describe a process where existing species give rise to new ones. Orator F. Cook published almost 400 articles on topics like genetics, sociology, evolution, anthropology, and geography.

Known for his contribution to the development of hybrid corn, Edward Murray East was a plant geneticist, botanist and agronomist. Trained as chemist, he soon switched to genetics and began working on corn-breeding experiments, intending to increase its fat and protein content, later writing Inbreeding and Outbreeding with his student Donald F. Jones, introducing the concept of heterosis in it.

Albert Francis Blakeslee was an American botanist best remembered for his research on the sexuality of fungi and the poisonous jimsonweed plant. His discovery of sexual fusion in fungi earned him the prestigious Bowdoin Prize.

A. S. Hitchcock was an American agrostologist and botanist. He is best remembered for authoring more than 250 works during his lifetime. A. S. Hitchcock also worked as a professor at the Kansas State Agricultural College and his field notebooks are preserved in the Smithsonian Institution.

William Gilson Farlow was an American botanist who worked as a professor of cryptogamic botany and professor of botany. Referred to as the father of cryptogamic botany, Farlow is credited with teaching students like William Albert Setchell, who went on to become a famous botanist and marine phycologist. William Gilson Farlow also served as the president of several non-profit organizations.

Renowned paleobotanist Frank Hall Knowlton is remembered for his pioneering study of fossilized plants and geologic climates. He not just taught botany but had also been associated with the U.S. Geological Survey. His interests also included birds, and he contributed to a volume named Birds of the World.