Margery C. Carlson facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Margery Claire Carlson
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| Born | November 21, 1892 |
| Died | July 5, 1985 (aged 92) |
| Nationality | American |
| Education | B.S. from Northwestern University M.S. from University of Wisconsin Ph.D in botany from University of Wisconsin |
| Occupation | Botanist |
| Years active | 1930–1958 |
| Employer | Northwestern University, Field Museum of Natural History |
| Known for | Collection of new species, discovering Tillandsia carlsoniae |
| Title | Professor of Botany |
| Movement | Conservation |
| Board member of | Illinois Youth Commission |
| Partner(s) | Kate Staley |
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Margery Claire Carlson (born November 21, 1892 – died July 5, 1985) was an American botanist. She was also a professor at Northwestern University. After earning her Ph.D. in botany, she became the first full-time female professor at Northwestern.
Carlson went on many science trips to Central America. Her goal was to collect plant samples and find new species. She worked as a research assistant at the Field Museum of Natural History. Because of this, most of her plant collection went to the museum. A special botany collection was even created for her there. Carlson was also very involved in protecting nature. She received many awards, and a nature preserve was named after her.
Contents
Early Life and Education
Margery Carlson was born in Arthur, Illinois. Her parents named her after the marguerite daisy flower. She earned her bachelor's degree from Northwestern University in 1916. Then, she got her Master's degree and Ph.D. in botany by 1925. She studied at the University of Wisconsin.
In 1927, Carlson started working in the research department at the University of Wisconsin. Later, she taught at Wellesley College. In 1930, she returned to Northwestern University as a professor. She taught there for nearly 30 years before retiring in the 1960s. She was the first woman to study botany as a major at Northwestern. She was also the first woman to become a full professor at the university.
Plant Research and Discoveries
Carlson's botany research began in 1927. She focused on how orchids grow. She also found ways to grow them in different climates. She created special feeding solutions. These solutions helped grow domesticated orchids faster.
Starting in 1933, she researched how to quickly grow the grass pink orchid. This orchid is found near Lake Michigan. Tropical orchids, a close relative, were very popular. But they only grew in warm, tropical places. They also took seven years to grow fully. This made them rare and very expensive.
In 1936, Carlson announced her success. She found a way to grow the grass pink orchid. It would now take only three years to go from seed to flower. She planned to make cheap seeds and bulbs available to everyone. She also began studying the lady slipper orchid. Its numbers were dropping, putting it at risk in many US states.
Career as a Botanist
As a botanist, Carlson often traveled to Mexico and Central America. She searched for and cataloged plant species there. In 1940, she wrote about a special type of seed coat. This covering is found only in a few orchid species. It surrounds the plant embryo. She called it a "covering of the embryo" or an "inner seed coat".
Expeditions to Central America (1945-1949)
In 1945-1946, Carlson and her close friend, Kate Staley, went on a big trip. Northwestern University and the Field Museum paid for it. They collected hundreds of pressed plant samples. They also brought back over 100 living plants, like the White Nun orchid. On this trip, Carlson became the first female leader of a science trip to the mountains of El Salvador. They returned on April 11, 1946. The living orchids and 4,000 plant samples (from 1,200 species) were sent to Northwestern University greenhouses.
Two years later, in December 1948, they went on another trip. This time, they traveled only by car. This plant survey was also funded by Northwestern University and the Field Museum. They named their car El Caracol, which means "The Snail". This was because the car carried everything they needed for six to nine months. It was their home "on its back".
One main goal of this trip was to find a new flower species. They had seen it on their last trip, but lost the photos and didn't take a sample. Another goal was to replace the White Nun orchids. Many had been destroyed after a power outage at the university greenhouse. On April 6, 1949, they found a new species of Tillandsia in Chiapas. It was later named Tillandsia carlsoniae after her. In total, this second trip collected thousands of plant samples. About 300 of them were living plants. They also discovered 15 new plant species.
Later Expeditions and Discoveries
From December 1951 to April 1952, Carlson went on a third trip. She collected over 1,000 plant samples and found new species. All these were given to the Field Museum's botany collection. This trip went to Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras. Carlson and Staley aimed to be the first recorded people to drive the entire Pan-American Highway through Guatemala.
They spent much of their three-and-a-half-month trip in Chiapas, Mexico. Then they moved through several countries to the cloud forests of Honduras. There, they found five new species of ferns. They also checked mining sites for fossilized plants. This was at the request of botanists at the Field Museum.
A fourth trip started in December 1954. The goal was to collect Russelia species. They wanted to learn where they grew and how they looked. Carlson traced the plant's origins across Mexico. She focused on a canyon near Iguala. Here, Russelia pringlei had been found in 1906. The trip continued into El Salvador and Honduras. She returned to the US in June 1955.
Carlson made many international trips during her career. She visited countries like Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Mexico. She discovered 25 new species of the plant family Bromeliaceae alone. Nineteen of these were found just in the Chiapas region. She retired as a professor from Northwestern University in 1958. But she kept working as a research assistant at the Field Museum. She also continued her plant collecting trips, mostly in Mexico.
In 1961, a state park committee was formed. It advised Governor Otto Kerner Jr. on how to protect Illinois Beach State Park. Carlson was chosen as one of the ten board members. Governor Kerner also added her to the board of the Illinois Youth Commission in 1964.
Legacy and Awards
Carlson helped start the Illinois Chapter of the Nature Conservancy. In the 1960s, a wildflower garden in Evanston, Illinois's Lighthouse Park was named after her. In 1976, an official nature preserve was named the "Margery C. Carlson Nature Preserve". It is located in LaSalle County.
She received the Eloise Payne Luquer Medal in 1952. In 1954, she won the Sarah Gildersleeve Fife Memorial Award. Both awards came from the Garden Club of America. The organization Graduate Women in Science made her an honorary member in 1978. They later named a fellowship award after her. It is called the "Margery Carlson & Kate Staley Memorial Fellowship".
Personal Life and Conservation Efforts
Carlson lived in Evanston, Illinois, with Kate Staley. Staley was a retired physiologist. She joined Carlson on many of her expeditions. Carlson was a member of the Sigma Delta Epsilon fraternity for women in science. She also served as secretary for the national branch.
She was very active in the conservation movement. She worked to protect wilderness areas in Illinois. Carlson advised the Evanston Garden Club. She also joined many professional groups focused on botany and the environment. Her conservation work helped protect places like Volo Bog, Illinois State Beach, and Matthiessen State Park.
Selected Works
- Morphological and Cytological Studies of Saprolegnia Sp. (1920), University of Wisconsin–Madison
- Gametogenesis and fertilization in Achlya racemosa (1929), University of Wisconsin–Madison
- Monograph of the Genus Russelia (Scrophulariaceae) (1957), Field Museum of Natural History
See also
In Spanish: Margery Claire Carlson para niños
