Luisa Eugenia Navas facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Luisa Eugenia Navas
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Navas (far right) giving a speech to Hugo Gunckel Lüer
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| Born | 27 July 1920 Chillán, Chile
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| Died | 18 November 2020 (aged 100) Santiago, Chile
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| Nationality | Chilean |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Botany |
| Institutions | University of Chile |
| Author abbrev. (botany) | L.E.Navas |
Luisa Eugenia Navas Bustamante (born July 27, 1920 – died November 18, 2020) was an important Chilean scientist. She was a skilled pharmacist and a dedicated botanist. Botanists are scientists who study plants. Luisa Navas spent her life learning about and describing many different kinds of plants.
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A Life Dedicated to Plants
Luisa Navas achieved her degree in chemistry and pharmacy on May 9, 1951. In the same year, she started working at the University of Chile. She became an Assistant Chair of Botany there. This meant she helped teach about plants in the School of Chemistry and Pharmacy.
Becoming a Professor
By 1958, Luisa Navas was recognized as a "Professor extraordinarius." She worked as an assistant to Hugo Gunckel Lüer, another famous botanist. They studied cryptogamic plants together. These are plants that reproduce using spores, like mosses and ferns.
In 1985, she became a full Chair Professor. This was in the Faculty of Chemical and Pharmaceutical Sciences. It showed how much she had contributed to her field.
Exploring the Plant World
Luisa Navas loved studying seaweed. She often visited the Marine Biology Station at Montemar with her father. This helped her learn about plants that live in the ocean.
She also spent a lot of time at the National Museum of Natural History of Santiago. With special permission, she went there twice a week. She helped organize the botanical section for cryptogamy.
Studying Plants Around the World
Luisa Navas received a special scholarship from UNESCO. This allowed her to study plant ecology in Mexico. Plant ecology is about how plants interact with their environment. She learned from experts from Montpellier and San Luis Potosí.
Later, she also visited the botanical garden at the Central University of Caracas. These experiences helped her learn even more about plants from different parts of the world.
Discovering New Plant Species
Luisa Navas was known for identifying and describing new plant species. When a botanist "describes" a plant, it means they officially name it and write down its features. This helps other scientists identify it. Here are some of the plants she helped describe:
- Gavilea longibracteata
- Dioscorea humifusa var.gracilis
- Myrceugenia colchaguensis
- Parietaria fernandeziana
- Urtica trichantha
See also
In Spanish: Luisa Eugenia Navas para niños
