Emma Lucy Braun facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
E. Lucy Braun
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| Born | April 19, 1889 |
| Died | March 5, 1971 (aged 81) |
| Resting place | Spring Grove Cemetery |
| Nationality | United States |
| Alma mater | University of Cincinnati |
| Known for | expert on Eastern US forests |
| Awards | Mary Soper Pope Memorial Award in Botany Certificate of Merit of the Botanical Society of America Ohio Conservation Hall of Fame |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | botany, ecology |
| Institutions | University of Cincinnati |
| Thesis | The Physiographic Ecology of the Cincinnati Region |
| Doctoral advisor | Harris M. Benedict |
| Other academic advisors | Henry C. Cowles, Nevin M. Fenneman |
| Author abbrev. (botany) | E.L.Braun |
| Notes | |
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Sister: Annette Frances Braun
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E. Lucy Braun (born April 19, 1889 – died March 5, 1971) was an amazing scientist. She was a botanist, which means she studied plants. She was also an ecologist, meaning she studied how living things interact with their environment. Lucy Braun was a top expert on the forests of the eastern United States. She taught at the University of Cincinnati.
In 1950, she became the first woman to lead the Ecological Society of America. She cared deeply about the environment long before it was a popular idea. Lucy Braun was a true pioneer for women in science. She won many awards for her important work.
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Her Life and Career
Emma Lucy Braun was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, on April 19, 1889. She lived in Ohio her whole life. Her parents, George Frederick and Emma Moriah Braun, loved nature. They encouraged Lucy and her older sister, Annette Frances Braun, to explore the woods. They would look for wildflowers together. Lucy's mother even had a small collection of dried plants, called a herbarium.
When Lucy was in high school, she started collecting plants too. This was the start of her huge personal herbarium. It eventually held 11,891 plant samples! Today, her collection is kept at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History in Washington D.C.
Lucy Braun studied plants and rocks at the University of Cincinnati. She earned her first degree in 1910. Then she got a master's degree in geology in 1912. Finally, she earned her PhD in botany in 1914. She was the sixth woman to get a PhD from that university. Her sister, Annette, was the first.
Lucy started teaching at the University of Cincinnati in 1910. She taught geology first, then botany. She moved up through the ranks. In 1946, she became a full professor of plant ecology. She retired two years later in 1948. She continued to be a professor emeritus until she passed away in 1971.
Lucy Braun loved working outdoors. She did a lot of fieldwork, even after she retired. She drove over 65,000 miles in 25 years for her research! She studied plants in Adams County, Ohio, and other eastern areas. She also made 13 trips to the western United States. Her sister Annette, who studied insects, often helped her.
Lucy took many color photos of the plants she found. She used these photos in her popular lectures. She gave talks to both university students and the public. Sometimes, she and her sister explored remote areas. They always respected the local people and their ways.
Lucy Braun never married. She set up a lab and a garden at the home she shared with her sister. She passed away at home at age 81. She is buried in Spring Grove Cemetery in Cincinnati. Her parents and sister are buried there too.
Her Research and Conservation Work
During her career, Lucy Braun wrote four books and 180 articles. These were published in more than twenty different science journals. Her most famous book was Deciduous Forests of Eastern North America (1950). This book was the result of her many years of studying forests. It looked at the different types of plants in deciduous forests. These are forests where trees lose their leaves in the fall.
One expert, Francis Fosberg, said her book was "a definitive work." He meant it was the best book on the topic. It reached a level of excellence rarely seen in American ecology.
In the 1920s and 1930s, Lucy Braun created a new list of plants in the Cincinnati area. She compared it to a list from 100 years before. This was one of the first studies of its kind in the United States. It showed how plant life can change over time.
Lucy Braun also studied how forests survived during past ice ages. She believed that the southern Appalachian mountains were a safe place, or "refugium," for forest plants during these cold periods. She also suggested that prairie plants moved into eastern areas during warmer times.
In the 1940s, Lucy Braun discovered new plant species. She described four new species and four new types of vascular plants from Kentucky. She also found a new type of hybrid fern. Many people consider Lucy Braun one of the most original thinkers in plant ecology in North America.
As a professor, she guided many students. She had thirteen master's students and one PhD student. Nine of her students were women. It was unusual for female professors to mentor so many graduate students back then.
Lucy Braun also worked hard to protect natural areas. She helped set up nature reserves, especially in Adams County, Ohio. In 1924, she started the Cincinnati chapter of the Wild Flower Preservation Society. She wrote for their journal, Wild Flower, and was its editor for several years.
Her efforts helped create the Edge of Appalachia Preserve System. This preserve protects a special type of dry, limestone prairie called Lynx Prairie. Her work also played a part in forming The Nature Conservancy, a large conservation group.
Awards and Honors
Lucy Braun received special grants called Guggenheim Fellowships in 1943 and 1944. These were for her work in plant sciences. In 1950, she was elected President of the Ecological Society of America. She was the first woman ever to hold this position. Today, the E. Lucy Braun Award is given to students for excellent presentations in ecology.
She was also the president of the Ohio Academy of Science from 1933–1934. In 1971, she was inducted into the Ohio Conservation Hall of Fame. Again, she was the first woman to achieve both of these honors.
In 1952, she received the Mary Soper Pope Memorial Award in botany. In 1956, the Botanical Society of America gave her a Certificate of Merit. In 1961, the Society named her one of 69 distinguished American botanists. In 1966, she received the Eloise Payne Luquer Medal for her special achievements in botany.
Lucy Braun is remembered in the names of several plants and one lichen:
- Ageratina luciae-brauniae
- Erigeron pulchellus var. brauniae
- Silphium terebinthinaceum var. luciae-brauniae
- Viola x brauniae
- Rinodina brauniana (a lichen)
Selected Publications
- Braun, E. Lucy. The Physiographic Ecology of the Cincinnati Region. PhD diss., University of Cincinnati, 1914.
- Braun, E. Lucy. The Woody Plants of Ohio: Trees, Shrubs, and Woody Climbers, Native, Naturalized, and Escaped. Columbus, OH: Ohio State University Press, 1961.
- Braun, E. Lucy. The Monocotyledoneae: Cat-tails to Orchids. Columbus, OH: Ohio State University Press, 1967.
- Braun, E. Lucy. Deciduous Forests of Eastern North America. Philadelphia, PA: Blakiston Co., 1950.
Standard Author Abbreviation
See also
In Spanish: Emma Lucy Braun para niños
