Beryl Brintnall Simpson (born April 28, 1942)Ancestry.com. ''Texas, Birth Index, 1903-1997'' atabase on-line Provo, UT, US: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2005. is a professor emerita in the Department of Integrative Biology at the

University of Texas at Austin The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...

. Previously she was an associate curator at the

Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History The National Museum of Natural History is a natural history museum administered by the Smithsonian Institution, located on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., United States. It has free admission and is open 364 days a year. In 2021, with 7. ...

in the

Department of Botany Department may refer to: * Departmentalization, division of a larger organization into parts with specific responsibility Government and military *Department (administrative division), a geographical and administrative division within a country, ...

. She studies plant systematics and tropical botany, focusing on

angiosperms Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (), commonly called angiosperms. The term "angiosperm" is derived from the Greek words ('container, vessel') and ('seed'), and refers to those plants th ...

found in the American Southwest, Mexico, and Central and South America. She was awarded the José Cuatrecasas Medal for Excellence in Tropical Botany for her decades of work on the subject.

Life and career

Simpson became interested in botany as a child. She would cut seeds and try to create hybrids by pushing two ends together. During high school her interest in plants continued, and her science fair project on "The Economic Aspects of the Rose" resulted in her working for

Richard Howard Richard Joseph Howard (October 13, 1929 – March 31, 2022; adopted as Richard Joseph Orwitz) was an American poet, literary critic, essayist, teacher, and translator. He was born in Cleveland, Ohio, and was a graduate of Columbia University, w ...

at the Botanical Museum at Harvard during her junior year. She then attended

Radcliffe College Radcliffe College was a women's liberal arts college in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and functioned as the female coordinate institution for the all-male Harvard College. Considered founded in 1879, it was one of the Seven Sisters colleges and he ...

and in her first year she took a graduate horticulture class taught by Howard, being allowed to take it because of her science fair project. Her undergraduate advisors included Howard,

Richard Schultes Richard Evans Schultes (''SHULL-tees'';Jonathan Kandell ''The New York Times'', April 13, 2001, Accessed April 26, 2020. January 12, 1915 – April 10, 2001) was an American biologist. He may be considered the father of modern ethnobotany. He i ...

, Paul Manglesdorf, and Elso Barghorn. Simpson graduated with an AB, magna cum laude, from Radcliffe College in 1964. She did not originally think of going to graduate school, as she thought it cost too much money, but changed her mind when she found out otherwise. Because of her excellent undergraduate record she was accepted at Harvard. Her first advisor was Otto Solbrig, but he moved to Michigan. Her next advisor was Reed Rollins. Simpson received her MA in 1967 and her PhD was awarded in 1968. She stayed at Harvard as a postdoctoral fellow with Otto Solbrig (who had returned to Harvard) until 1970, when she accepted a position as an Assistant Curator of the

Gray Herbarium The Harvard University Herbaria and Botanical Museum are institutions located on the grounds of Harvard University at 22 Divinity Avenue, Cambridge, Massachusetts. The Botanical Museum is one of three which comprise the Harvard Museum of Natural ...

at Harvard. She then moved to the Smithsonian's

National Museum of Natural History The National Museum of Natural History is a natural history museum administered by the Smithsonian Institution, located on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., United States. It has free admission and is open 364 days a year. In 2021, with 7 ...

, Department of Botany, as an Associate Curator from 1972 to 1977 and in 1977 was promoted to Curator. In 1978 she moved to the

as a professor. In 1994 she became the C. L. Lundell Professor of Systematic Botany. Her research was initially in the field of the biogeography of South America but she then moved on to pollination biology. She has also undertaken basic taxonomic research of the Asteracaeae, Krameriaceae, and Fabaceae, contributing to many Floras of North and South America. She is also considered an inspirational teacher of field-work to graduate students. Her partner is Jack Neff, an expert on bees native to the American Southwest and South America. Together they have two children, Jonathan and Meghan.

Awards and honors

In 2010 Simpson was the ninth recipient of the José

Cuatrecasas Medal for Excellence in Tropical Botany Jose Cuatrecasas Medal for Excellence in Tropical Botany was initiated in 2001 by the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, USA. It is named after José Cuatrecasas, a pioneering botanist and taxonomist who worked on the flora of tropic ...

from the Department of Botany and the

United States National Herbarium The United States National Herbarium is a collection of five million preserved plant specimens housed in the Department of Botany at the National Museum of Natural History, which is part of the Smithsonian Institution. It represents about 8% of the ...

of the

Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums and education and research centers, the largest such complex in the world, created by the U.S. government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge". Founded ...

. She was recognized for her contributions to the study of tropical botany through her monograph of

Krameria ''Krameria'' is the only genus in the Krameriaceae family, of which any of the approximately 18 species are commonly known as rhatany, ratany or rattany. Rhatany is also the name given to krameria root, a botanical remedy consisting of the dried ...

ceae and revisions of Andean genera and other tropical groups of plants, her mentorship of many students, and as the director of the University of Texas herbaria. Simpson was awarded the

Asa Gray Award Asa Gray (November 18, 1810 – January 30, 1888) is considered the most important American botanist of the 19th century. His ''Darwiniana'' was considered an important explanation of how religion and science were not necessarily mutually excl ...

of the

American Society of Plant Taxonomists The American Society of Plant Taxonomists (ASPT) is a botanical organization formed in 1935 to "foster, encourage, and promote education and research in the field of plant taxonomy, to include those areas and fields of study that contribute to and b ...

(ASPT) in 2003. This is a lifetime achievement award given by to individuals for outstanding accomplishments in research and mentoring. Simpson is a member of many societies and has served in a number of committees and positions. She has been the President of: In 2001 the

Society for Economic Botany The Society for Economic Botany is an international learned society covering the field of economic botany. It was established in 1959. Its official journal is ''Economic Botany'', published on their behalf by Springer Science+Business Media and th ...

, from 1993 to 1994 the

, 1990-1992 the

Botanical Society of America The Botanical Society of America (BSA) represents professional and amateur botanists, researchers, educators and students in over 80 countries of the world. It functions as a United States nonprofit 501(c)(3) membership society. History The soci ...

, 1984-1986 the

Society for the Study of Evolution The Society for the Study of Evolution is a professional organization of evolutionary biologists. It was formed in the United States in 1946 to promote evolution and the integration of various fields of science concerned with evolution and to organ ...

. She was co-president of the II and III International Congress of Systematic and Evolutionary Biology. She has been a fellow of the

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (abbreviation: AAA&S) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, and ...

since 1994 and the

American Society of Naturalists The American Society of Naturalists was founded in 1883 and is one of the oldest professional societies dedicated to the biological sciences in North America. The purpose of the Society is "to advance and diffuse knowledge of organic evolution and o ...

since 1981. From 1993 to 1995 she was on the board of directors for the

American Institute of Biological Sciences The American Institute of Biological Sciences (AIBS) is a nonprofit scientific charity. The organization’s mission is to promote the use of science to inform decision-making and advance biology for the benefit of science and society. Overvie ...

. She was on the Board of Governors of the US-Mexico Foundation for Science from 1992 to 2003 and the chairman of the US Committee to the International Union of Biological Sciences from 1986 to 1988.

Select publications

She has co-authored a textbook, ''Plants in our World: Economic Botany'' with Molly Conner-Ogorzaly which was first published in 1986 and has been reissued in its fourth edition in 2014. It is considered the leading undergraduate university-level textbook in economic botany. Among the most significant of her over 120 publications are: * J Choo, T. Juenger, BB Simpson. 2012. Consequences of frugivore-mediated seed dispersal for the spatial and genetic structures of a Neotropical palm. ''Molecular Ecology'' 21, 1019–1031. * RE Timme, BB Simpson, CR Linder. 2007. High-resolution phylogeny for Helianthus (Asteraceae) using the 18S-26S ribosomal DNA external transcribed spacer. ''American Journal of Botany'' 94, 1837–1852. * A Weeks, DC Daly, BB Simpson. 2005. The phylogenetic history and biogeography of the frankincense and myrrh family (Burseraceae) based on nuclear and chloroplast sequence data. ''Molecular phylogenetics and evolution'' 35 (1), 85–101. * JA Tate, BB Simpson. 2003. Paraphyly of Tarasa (Malvaceae) and diverse origins of the polyploid species. ''Systematic Botany'', 723–737. * BB Simpson. 1983. Evolution and diversity of floral rewards. in ''Handbook of experimental pollination biology'', 142–159. * BB Simpson, JL Neff. 1981. Floral rewards: alternatives to pollen and nectar. ''Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden'', 301–322. * JL Neff, BB Simpson. 1981. Oil-collecting structures in the Anthophoridae (Hymenoptera): morphology, function, and use in systematics. ''Journal of the Kansas Entomological Society'', 95–123. * BB Simpson. 1979. Quaternary biogeography of the high montane regions of South America. The South American herpetofauna: its origin, evolution, and dispersal 157, 188. * BB Simpson, J Haffer. 1978
Speciation patterns in the Amazonian forest biota
''Annual review of ecology and systematics'' 9 (1), 497–518. * BB Simpson. 1975
Pleistocene changes in the flora of the high tropical Andes
''Paleobiology'' 1 (3), 273–294. * OT Solbrig, BB Simpson. 1974. Components of regulation of a population of dandelions in Michigan. ''The Journal of Ecology'', 473–486.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Simpson, Beryl B. 1942 births Living people Radcliffe College alumni University of Texas at Austin faculty Harvard University alumni Smithsonian Institution people