Emma Lucy Braun facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Emma Lucy Braun
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| Born | April 19, 1889 |
| Died | March 5, 1971 (aged 81) |
| Resting place | Spring Grove Cemetery |
| 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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Emma Lucy Braun (born April 19, 1889 – died March 5, 1971) was a very important scientist. She was a botanist, studying plants, and an ecologist, studying how living things interact with their environment. Dr. Braun was an expert on the forests in 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 nature and worked to protect it long before "environmentalist" was a common word. She won many awards for her amazing work.
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Early Life and Education
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, encouraged her love for nature. They often took Emma and her older sister, Annette Frances Braun, into the woods. There, they learned to identify different wildflowers. Emma's mother even had her own small collection of dried plants, called an herbarium.
When Emma was in high school, she started collecting plants for her own studies. This was the beginning of a huge personal herbarium. Over her lifetime, she collected 11,891 plant samples! Later, this amazing collection became part of the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History in Washington D.C.
Dr. Braun studied plants (botany) and rocks (geology) at the University of Cincinnati. She earned her first degree in 1910. Then, she got a master's degree in geology in 1912. In 1914, she earned her PhD in botany. She was the sixth woman to get a PhD from that university. Her sister, Annette, was the first!
A Career in Plant Ecology
Emma Lucy Braun began teaching at the University of Cincinnati in 1910. She started as an assistant in geology. From 1914 to 1917, she taught botany. She moved up through different teaching roles. In 1946, she became a full professor of plant ecology. She retired two years later in 1948. Even after retiring, she kept the title of professor emeritus until she passed away in 1971.
Dr. Braun loved working outdoors. She spent many years exploring forests, even after she retired. She drove over 65,000 miles in 25 years for her research! She studied areas near her home in Adams County, Ohio, and traveled across the eastern United States. She also made 13 trips to the western United States. Her sister, Annette, who was an expert on tiny moths, often helped her.
Dr. Braun took many color photos of the plants she found. She used these photos in her popular lectures. She spoke to both university students and the public. During her fieldwork in Kentucky, she and her sister sometimes visited remote areas. They always respected the local people and their ways of life. This helped them gain trust and continue their important research.
Emma Lucy Braun never married. She set up a special lab and garden at the home she shared with her sister. She passed away at age 81 in her home. She is buried with her family in Spring Grove Cemetery in Cincinnati.
Important Research and Books
During her career, Dr. Lucy Braun wrote four books and 180 articles for scientific journals. Her most famous work is the book Deciduous Forests of Eastern North America, published in 1950. Another scientist, Francis Fosberg, called it a "definitive work." This means it was a complete and highly respected study.
This book was the result of her many years of research. She studied vascular plants (plants with tubes to carry water and nutrients) and different types of deciduous forests. Deciduous forests are those where trees lose their leaves in the fall. She looked at how these forests grew in areas that were once covered by glaciers and areas that were not.
In the 1920s and 1930s, Dr. Braun also created a new list of plants in the Cincinnati area. She compared it to plant lists from 100 years before. This was one of the first studies in the United States to show how plant life changes over time. She also studied how plants moved and spread across North America after the Ice Ages.
Dr. Braun discovered new plants too! In the 1940s, she identified four new species and four new varieties of vascular plants in Kentucky. She also found a new type of hybrid fern. Many people consider Lucy Braun one of the most original thinkers in plant ecology during her time.
Mentoring and Conservation Efforts
As a professor, Dr. Braun was a great mentor. She guided 13 master's students and one PhD student. Nine of these students were women. It was not common for female professors to mentor so many graduate students back then.
Dr. Lucy Braun was also a strong advocate for protecting nature. She worked hard to save natural areas and create nature reserves, particularly in Adams County, Ohio. In 1924, she started the Cincinnati chapter of the Wild Flower Preservation Society. She also wrote for their journal, Wild Flower, and was its editor for several years.
Her efforts helped protect a special 22-acre prairie called Lynx Prairie. This work eventually led to the creation of the Richard & Lucile Durrell Edge of Appalachia Preserve System. This is a huge nature reserve, covering 20,000 acres! Her work also played a part in starting The Nature Conservancy, a major conservation organization.
Awards and Recognition
Dr. Lucy Braun received many important awards for her contributions to science. She was given Guggenheim Fellowships in plant sciences in 1943 and 1944. These fellowships help scientists do important research.
In 1950, she made history by becoming the first woman president of the Ecological Society of America. Today, this society gives out the E. Lucy Braun Award to students who present excellent research posters. She was also the first woman to be president of the Ohio Academy of Science (from 1933 to 1934). In 1971, she was inducted into the Ohio Conservation Hall of Fame, again as the first woman.
Other honors include the Mary Soper Pope Memorial Award in botany in 1952. In 1956, the Botanical Society of America gave her a Certificate of Merit. In 1961, the same society named her one of 69 distinguished American botanists. She also received the Eloise Payne Luquer Medal in 1966 for her special achievements in botany.
To honor her lasting impact, several plants and one lichen are named after her. These include Ageratina luciae-brauniae, Erigeron pulchellus var. brauniae, Silphium terebinthinaceum var. luciae-brauniae, Viola x brauniae, and Rinodina brauniana.
Standard author abbreviation
See also
In Spanish: Emma Lucy Braun para niños
