Edwin Bingham Copeland (September 30, 1873 – March 16, 1964) was an American botanist and agriculturist. He is known for founding the

University of the Philippines College of Agriculture A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, the ...

Los Baños, Laguna Los Baños, officially the Municipality of Los Baños ( tgl, Bayan ng Los Baños), colloquialy 'elbi' or simply LB, is a 1st class municipality in the province of Laguna, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 115,353 ...

and for being one of the America's leading pteridologists (one who studies ferns).

Life

In 1903, he and his family moved to the Philippines, where he worked as a Systematic Botanist for the Bureau of Science. Wagner, W.H. Jr. 1964
Edwin Bingham Copeland (1873–1964) and his contributions to Pteridology
American Fern Journal 54(4): 177–188. In 1909, he founded the

, now part of the

University of the Philippines Los Baños The University of the Philippines Los Baños (UPLB; fil, Unibersidad ng Pilipinas Los Baños), also referred to as UP Los Baños or colloquially as Elbi (), is a public research university primarily located in the towns of Los Baños and Bay ...

, and served as its dean and also as a professor of

plant physiology Plant physiology is a subdiscipline of botany concerned with the functioning, or physiology, of plants. Closely related fields include plant morphology (structure of plants), plant ecology (interactions with the environment), phytochemistry (bi ...

for eight years (1909–1917). In 1917, he returned to the United States and was a leading rice grower in Chico, California. In 1927, he began work as an Associate Curator at the University of California, Berkeley. In 1931, he worked for the Department of Agriculture of the Philippines, retiring in 1935. After retiring he returned to UC Berkeley and became a permanent Research Associate of the Department of Biology of the University of California. He is best known among American botanists for this latter period at UC. He was elected an Honorary Member of the

American Fern Society The American Fern Society was founded in 1893. Today, it has more than 1,000 members around the world, with various local chapters. Among its deceased members, perhaps the most famous is Oliver Sacks, who became a member in 1993. Willard N. Clut ...

in 1948. During his career he described 35 new

genera Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nomenclat ...

and some 600 new species of ferns. His personal

herbarium A herbarium (plural: herbaria) is a collection of preserved plant specimens and associated data used for scientific study. The specimens may be whole plants or plant parts; these will usually be in dried form mounted on a sheet of paper (called ...

totaled approximately 25,000 species and is now at the

University of Michigan Herbarium The University of Michigan Herbarium is the herbarium of the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Michigan, in the United States. One of the most-extensive botanical collections in the world, the herbarium has some 1.7 million specimens of vascu ...

.Collections
, University of Michigan Herbarium. He wrote numerous articles and several books including "Elements of Philippine Agriculture" (1908), "The Coconut" (three editions, 1914, 1921, and 1931), "Rice" (1924), "Fern" (1964) and "Natural Conduct" (1928), a book on practical ethics. In a letter during his final months, a friend C.V. Morton wrote, "You have the consolation of knowing that your name is in constant use by fern students the world over." The fungus genus '' Copelandia'' was named after him. On August 8, 1899, Copeland and partner E. N. Henderson were the first climbers known to reach summit of Junction Peak, a thirteener in the

Sierra Nevada mountains The Sierra Nevada () is a mountain range in the Western United States, between the Central Valley (California), Central Valley of California and the Great Basin. The vast majority of the range lies in the state of California, although the Cars ...

of California. His father was the zoologist Herbert Edson Copeland (1849–1876) and he was the father of biologist Herbert Copeland. He was married to Ethel Faulkner Copeland.

Legacy

The following species of plants are named after him: * '' Saurauia copelandii'' Elmer

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Copeland, Edwin 1873 births 1964 deaths Pteridologists American expatriates in the Philippines Botanists active in the Philippines People from Monroe, Wisconsin American botanists Sierra Club people American mountain climbers Stanford University alumni University of Halle alumni History of the Sierra Nevada (United States) University of the Philippines Los Baños People from Chico, California