Margaret Clay Ferguson facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Margaret Clay Ferguson
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| Born | August 29, 1863 |
| Died | August 28, 1951 (aged 87) |
| Known for | First woman president of the Botanical Society of America |
| Awards | Honorary doctorate from Mount Holyoke College |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Botany |
| Institutions | Wellesley College |
| Author abbrev. (botany) | M.C.Ferguson |
Margaret Clay Ferguson was an important American scientist. She was a botanist, which means she studied plants. Margaret is famous for helping to improve how people learned about plants in science. She also studied the life cycles of pine trees in North America.
Born in Orleans, New York, in 1863, Margaret went to the Genesee Wesleyan Seminary. She later studied at Wellesley College, graduating in 1891 with degrees in botany and chemistry. She earned her PhD in botany from Cornell University in 1901.
In 1929, Margaret Clay Ferguson made history. She became the very first woman to be president of the Botanical Society of America.
Contents
Margaret Ferguson's Career in Botany
In 1930, Margaret became a professor of botany. She also became the head of the botany department at Wellesley College. She often collected plant samples with her niece, Alice Maria Ottley.
Research on Plants and Fungi
Ferguson studied many different living things. These included fungi, pine trees, and petunias. Her work on petunias was very interesting. She discovered that the color and pattern of their flowers did not always follow simple Mendelian rules. These rules explain how traits are passed down.
Encouraging Women in Science
Margaret Ferguson was a strong supporter of women in science. She encouraged many women to become botanists. At Wellesley College, she made sure that hands-on lab work was a big part of her teaching. This helped her students learn by doing.
Later Life and Legacy
In 1931, a woman named Susan Minns gave money to Wellesley College. This money helped Margaret Ferguson continue her important research. Margaret retired from Wellesley College in 1932. However, she kept doing research until 1938.
She received a special honorary doctorate from Mount Holyoke College. This was a big honor for her contributions to science. In her later years, she lived in Florida. She then moved to San Diego, California, where she passed away in 1951.
Today, the greenhouses at the Wellesley College Botanic Gardens are named in her honor. They are called the Margaret C. Ferguson Greenhouses.
Images for kids
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Seasonal Display House in the Margaret C. Ferguson Greenhouses at Wellesley College.
See also
In Spanish: Margaret Clay Ferguson para niños
