E. Lucy Braun (April 19, 1889 – March 5, 1971) was a prominent
botanist,
ecologist
Ecology () is the study of the relationships between living organisms, including humans, and their physical environment. Ecology considers organisms at the individual, population, community, ecosystem, and biosphere level. Ecology overlaps wi ...
, and expert on the forests of the eastern United States who was a professor of the
University of Cincinnati
The University of Cincinnati (UC or Cincinnati) is a public research university in Cincinnati, Ohio. Founded in 1819 as Cincinnati College, it is the oldest institution of higher education in Cincinnati and has an annual enrollment of over 44,00 ...
. She was the first woman to be elected President of the
Ecological Society of America
The Ecological Society of America (ESA) is a professional organization of ecological scientists. Based in the United States and founded in 1915, ESA publications include peer-reviewed journals, newsletters, fact sheets, and teaching resources. I ...
, in 1950. She was an environmentalist before the term was popularized, and a pioneering woman in her field, winning many awards for her work.
Life and career
Emma Lucy Braun was born on April 19, 1889 in
Cincinnati
Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state lin ...
; she lived in
Ohio
Ohio () is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Of the List of states and territories of the United States, fifty U.S. states, it is the List of U.S. states and territories by area, 34th-l ...
for the remainder of her life.
The daughter of George Frederick and Emma Moriah (Wright) Braun, her early interest in the natural world was encouraged by her parents, who took her and her older sister
Annette Frances Braun
Annette Frances Braun (1884–1978) was an American entomologist and leading authority on microlepidoptera, a grouping of mostly small and nocturnal moths. Her special interest was leaf miners: moths whose larvae live and feed from within a leaf ...
into the woods to identify wildflowers. Braun's mother even had a small
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 (calle ...
. In high school, Braun herself began collecting plants for study, the beginning of a huge personal herbarium that she assembled over her lifetime, composed of 11,891 specimens. Her collection is now a part of the herbarium at th
Smithsonian National Museum of Natural Historyin Washington D.C.
Braun studied botany and geology at the
University of Cincinnati
The University of Cincinnati (UC or Cincinnati) is a public research university in Cincinnati, Ohio. Founded in 1819 as Cincinnati College, it is the oldest institution of higher education in Cincinnati and has an annual enrollment of over 44,00 ...
. She earned a bachelor's degree in 1910, a master's degree in geology in 1912, and a PhD in botany in 1914. In 1912, she studied with
Henry C. Cowles
Henry Chandler Cowles (February 27, 1869 – September 12, 1939) was an American botanist and ecological pioneer (see History of ecology). A professor at the University of Chicago, he studied ecological succession in the Indiana Dunes of Northwes ...
; Harris M. Benedict was her dissertation adviser, with additional advice from
Nevin M. Fenneman. She became the sixth woman to earn a PhD from that institution; her sister was the first. Braun's teaching and research career at the University of Cincinnati began as an assistant in geology (1910–1913). She taught as an assistant in botany from 1914 to 1917, then advanced through the titles of instructor, assistant professor, and associate professor. She achieved full professorship as a professor of plant ecology in 1946, two years before her retirement. She held the title of professor
emeritus
''Emeritus'' (; female: ''emerita'') is an adjective used to designate a retired chair, professor, pastor, bishop, pope, director, president, prime minister, rabbi, emperor, or other person who has been "permitted to retain as an honorary title ...
of plant ecology from 1948 until her death in 1971.
Braun was especially active in fieldwork, both during her active professorship as well as in retirement. She traveled over 65,000 miles in 25 years of investigations, most of it driving her own car. In addition to research nearby in
Adams County, Ohio
Adams County is a county in the U.S. state of Ohio. As of the 2020 census, the population was 27,477. Its county seat is West Union. The county is named after John Adams, the second President of the United States.
Geography
According to the ...
and more widely in the east, Braun made 13 trips to the western United States. She was assisted in her work by her sister Annette, an entomologist and authority on
Microlepidoptera
Microlepidoptera (micromoths) is an artificial (i.e., unranked and not monophyletic) grouping of moth families, commonly known as the 'smaller moths' ( micro, Lepidoptera). These generally have wingspans of under 20 mm, and are thus harder ...
. Braun took numerous color photographs of the flora she encountered in her fieldwork, and displayed them as slides to illustrate her very popular lectures, both to university classes and the general public. In the hills of Kentucky during the period of
Prohibition
Prohibition is the act or practice of forbidding something by law; more particularly the term refers to the banning of the manufacture, storage (whether in barrels or in bottles), transportation, sale, possession, and consumption of alcoholic ...
, Braun and her sister sometimes explored areas where
moonshining was active; however, they maintained the trust of the local inhabitants, honoring local customs and not reporting illegal stills to authorities.
Braun set up a laboratory and experimental garden at the home she shared with her sister; she was never married. She died in her home at age 81 of
congestive heart failure
Heart failure (HF), also known as congestive heart failure (CHF), is a syndrome, a group of signs and symptoms caused by an impairment of the heart's blood pumping function. Symptoms typically include shortness of breath, excessive fatigue, ...
, and is buried in Cincinnati with her parents and sister in
Spring Grove Cemetery
Spring Grove Cemetery and Arboretum () is a nonprofit rural cemetery and arboretum located at 4521 Spring Grove Avenue, Cincinnati, Ohio. It is the third largest cemetery in the United States, after the Calverton National Cemetery and Abraham ...
.
Research and advocacy
Over her career, Lucy Braun wrote four books and 180 articles published in over twenty journals. Her most remembered and lasting scholarly achievement was ''Deciduous Forests of Eastern North America'' (1950).
Francis Fosberg said of her book "one can only say that it is a definitive work, and that it has reached a level of excellence seldom or never before attained in American
ecology
Ecology () is the study of the relationships between living organisms, including humans, and their physical environment. Ecology considers organisms at the individual, population, community, ecosystem, and biosphere level. Ecology overl ...
or vegetation science, at least in any work of comparable importance."
[ The book was the culmination of her researches into ]vascular plant
Vascular plants (), also called tracheophytes () or collectively Tracheophyta (), form a large group of land plants ( accepted known species) that have lignified tissues (the xylem) for conducting water and minerals throughout the plant. They ...
floristics and the composition of various deciduous forest
In the fields of horticulture and Botany, the term ''deciduous'' () means "falling off at maturity" and "tending to fall off", in reference to trees and shrubs that seasonally shed leaves, usually in the autumn; to the shedding of petals, af ...
plant communities, which had begun with her investigations of glaciated
A glacier (; ) is a persistent body of dense ice that is constantly moving under its own weight. A glacier forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its ablation over many years, often centuries. It acquires distinguishing features, such as ...
and unglaciated regions of southern Ohio. In the 1920s and 1930s, Braun's taxonomy work included a new catalog of the flora of the Cincinnati area, with a comparison to the flora of 100 years prior. Her study, one of the first of its kind for the United States, provided a model for analyzing changes to a flora over time. Building from the understanding that the southern Appalachian mountains were a refugium for communities of forest plants during intervals of glaciation, Braun proposed two migrations of prairie flora from the western grasslands during warming periods: a pre- Illinoian movement and a post- Wisconsinan one. She summarized her thinking in "The Phytogeography of Unglaciated Eastern United States and Its Interpretation". In the 1940s, Braun described as new to science four species and four varieties of vascular plants, all from localities in Kentucky
Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virgini ...
, as well as a hybrid fern. On the whole, Lucy Braun is considered one of the most original thinkers in North American plant ecology from the first half of the twentieth century.
As a professor, she had thirteen MA students and one PhD student, nine of which were women; the mentorship of graduate students was uncommon for female professors at the time.
Lucy Braun also fought to conserve natural areas and set up nature reserve
A nature reserve (also known as a wildlife refuge, wildlife sanctuary, biosphere reserve or bioreserve, natural or nature preserve, or nature conservation area) is a protected area of importance for flora, fauna, or features of geological or ...
s, particularly in Adams County. She founded the Cincinnati chapter of the Wild Flower Preservation Society
The Wild Flower Preservation Society was an American non-profit organization dedicated to the conservation of native plants.
History
The Wild Flower Preservation Society was organized in 1925 in Washington, D.C., under the direction of Percy ...
in 1924, contributed to its journal ''Wild Flower'', and served as the journal's editor from 1928 to 1933. Her efforts to protect a 22-acre xeric
Deserts and xeric shrublands are a biome defined by the World Wide Fund for Nature. Deserts and xeric (ancient Greek xērós, “dry") shrublands form the largest terrestrial biome, covering 19% of Earth's land surface area. Ecoregions in this h ...
limestone prairie ( Lynx Prairie) led to the establishment of the Richard & Lucile Durrell Edge of Appalachia Preserve System, and ultimately to the creation of The Nature Conservancy
The Nature Conservancy (TNC) is a global environmental organization headquartered in Arlington, Virginia. it works via affiliates or branches in 79 countries and territories, as well as across every state in the US.
Founded in 1951, The Natu ...
.
Awards, honors, and distinctions
Lucy Braun received Guggenheim Fellowship
Guggenheim Fellowships are grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation to those "who have demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the ar ...
s in the field of plant sciences in 1943 and 1944. She was elected President of the Ecological Society of America
The Ecological Society of America (ESA) is a professional organization of ecological scientists. Based in the United States and founded in 1915, ESA publications include peer-reviewed journals, newsletters, fact sheets, and teaching resources. I ...
in 1950, a first for a woman. The E. Lucy Braun Award for Excellence in Ecology is awarded to a student for an outstanding poster presentation at the Society's annual meeting. She was the president of the Ohio Academy of Science
Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The ...
from 1933–1934, and was inducted into the Ohio Conservation Hall of Fame
Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The ...
in 1971, again the first woman in both cases. In 1952, the Cranbrook Institute of Science
The Cranbrook Educational Community is an education, research, and public museum complex in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. This National Historic Landmark was founded in the early 20th century by newspaper mogul George Gough Booth
George Gough Bo ...
awarded her the Mary Soper Pope Memorial Award The Mary Soper Pope Memorial Award, informally known as the Mary Soper Pope Medal, was awarded by the Cranbrook Institute of Science of Detroit, Michigan, for notable achievement in plant sciences. It was inaugurated in 1946, and the last award wa ...
in botany. In 1956, she was awarded a Certificate of Merit by 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 s ...
, and she was declared one of 69 distinguished American botanists by the Society in 1961. In 1966, Braun received the Eloise Payne Luquer Medal
The Garden Club of America is a nonprofit organization made up of around 18,000 club members and 200 local garden clubs around the United States. Founded in 1913, by Elizabeth Price Martin and Ernestine Abercrombie Goodman, it promotes the recordi ...
for special achievement in botany from the Garden Club of America.
She is remembered in the names of four plants, ''Ageratina luciae-brauniae
''Ageratina luciae-brauniae'' is a species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae known by the common names Lucy Braun's snakeroot and rockhouse white snakeroot. It is native to the eastern United States, where it is limited to the Cumberl ...
'', ''Erigeron pulchellus
''Erigeron pulchellus'', the Robin's plantain, blue spring daisy or hairy fleabane, is a North American species of plants in the family Asteraceae. It is widespread across much of the United States and Canada from Québec and Ontario south as f ...
'' var. ''brauniae'', '' Silphium terebinthinaceum'' var. ''luciae-brauniae'', and ''Viola
; german: Bratsche
, alt=Viola shown from the front and the side
, image=Bratsche.jpg
, caption=
, background=string
, hornbostel_sachs=321.322-71
, hornbostel_sachs_desc=Composite chordophone sounded by a bow
, range=
, related=
*Violin family ...
'' ''x brauniae'', and one lichen, ''Rinodina brauniana
''Rinodina brauniana'' is a species of lichen in the family Physciaceae. It was described as new to science in 2019 and grows in North America in the Southern Appalachian Mountains in North Carolina, Tennessee and Alabama. It lives on the bark of ...
''.
Selected publications
* Bulletin No. 7.
* Braun also is an associate editor.
*
*
*
*
* With Gramineae by Clara G. Weishaupt. Original drawings by Elizabeth Dalvé and Elizabeth King.
*
Standard author abbreviation
References
Bibliography
*
*
External links
Emma Lucy Braun Photograph Album, c. 1932-1940
from the Smithsonian Institution Archives
Smithsonian Libraries and Archives is an institutional archives and library system comprising 21 branch libraries serving the various Smithsonian Institution museums and research centers. The Libraries and Archives serve Smithsonian Institutio ...
Annette and E. Lucy Braun Papers
at the Cincinnati History Library & Archives of the Cincinnati Museum Center
Braun, Emma Lucy, in Some Biogeographers, Evolutionists and Ecologists: Chrono-Biographical Sketches
accessed April 4, 2012
Braun, E. (Emma) Lucy, in The Free Dictionary by Farlex
accessed April 4, 2012
A Force of Nature: Lucy Braun
a documentary highlighting the life of E. Lucy Braun, a groundbreaking 20th century scientist, accessed January 19, 2020
{{DEFAULTSORT:Braun, Emma Lucy
1889 births
1971 deaths
American botanists
Scientists from Cincinnati
Women botanists
20th-century American women scientists
20th-century American scientists
University of Cincinnati alumni
University of Cincinnati faculty
American women academics