F. Herbert Bormann (March 24, 1922 – June 7, 2012) was an American

plant ecologist Plant ecology is a subdiscipline of ecology which studies the distribution and abundance of plants, the effects of environmental factors upon the abundance of plants, and the interactions among and between plants and other organisms. Examples o ...

whose 1971 research within the

Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest is an area of land in the towns of Woodstock, Ellsworth and Thornton in the White Mountains of New Hampshire that functions as an outdoor laboratory for ecological studies. It was initially established in 1955 ...

in New Hampshire with fellow scientists was credited with the discovery of

acid rain Acid rain is rain or any other form of precipitation that is unusually acidic, meaning that it has elevated levels of hydrogen ions (low pH). Most water, including drinking water, has a neutral pH that exists between 6.5 and 8.5, but acid ...

. His research was one of the major contributory factors towards changes made in the United States' Clean Air Act in 1990. In 1993 he was awarded the

Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement The Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement is an annual award for environmental science, environmental health, and energy. Tyler Laureates receive a $200,000 cash prize and a medallion. The prize is administered by the University of Southern Cal ...

and in 2003 he received the

Blue Planet Prize The recognises outstanding efforts in scientific research or applications of science that contribute to solving global environmental problems. The prize was created by the Asahi Glass Foundation in 1992, the year of the Rio Earth Summit, and ...

, both awards alongside his colleague

Gene Likens Gene Elden Likens (born January 6, 1935) is an American limnologist and ecologist. He co-founded the Hubbard Brook Ecosystem Study at the Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest in 1963, and founded the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies in Millbrook ...

. His publications include 8 books and more than 200 journal articles. Born in

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

, Bormann was raised in

Westwood, New Jersey Westwood (known as "The Hub of the Pascack Valley") is a borough in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the borough's population was 10,908,University of Idaho The University of Idaho (U of I, or UIdaho) is a public land-grant research university in Moscow, Idaho. It is the state's land-grant and primary research university,, and the lead university in the Idaho Space Grant Consortium. The University ...

before enlisting in the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

following the outbreak of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. He worked as a welder for the Navy during the war, after which he studied at

Rutgers University Rutgers University (; RU), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a Public university, public land-grant research university consisting of four campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's ...

(B.S. in Agricultural Science) and

Duke University Duke University is a private research university in Durham, North Carolina. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892. In 1924, tobacco and electric power industrialist James ...

(Ph.D. in Plant Ecology). In 1952 he traveled to the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Tw ...

's Lake Itasca Field Station to take an advanced course on

plant pathology Plant pathology (also phytopathology) is the scientific study of diseases in plants caused by pathogens (infectious organisms) and environmental conditions (physiological factors). Organisms that cause infectious disease include fungus, fung ...

, where he was introduced to

oak wilt Oak wilt is a fungal disease caused by the organism ''Bretziella fagacearum'' that threatens ''Quercus'' spp. The disease is limited to the Midwestern and Eastern United States; first described in the 1940s in the Upper Mississippi River Val ...

and its vascular transmission through root grafts this was the genesis of his interest in vascularity and root grafts. Later that year he went on to teach ecology on the faculties of

Emory University Emory University is a private research university in Atlanta, Georgia. Founded in 1836 as "Emory College" by the Methodist Episcopal Church and named in honor of Methodist bishop John Emory, Emory is the second-oldest private institution of ...

(1952-1956),

Dartmouth College Dartmouth College (; ) is a private research university in Hanover, New Hampshire. Established in 1769 by Eleazar Wheelock, it is one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the American Revolution. Although founded to educate Native A ...

(1956-1966), and the

Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies Yale School of the Environment (YSE) is a professional school of Yale University. It was founded to train foresters, and now trains environmental leaders through four 2-year degree programs (Master of Environmental Management, Master of Environmen ...

(1966-1992). He died in 2012 in

North Branford, Connecticut North Branford is a New England town, town in New Haven County, Connecticut, New Haven County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 13,544 at the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census. The town is primarily known for agriculture and for ...

from complications resulting from a lung infection.

References

External links

F. Herbert Bormann Papers (MS 2012).
Manuscripts and Archives, Yale University Library.
Gene E. Likens and Lars O. Heidin, "F. Herbert Bormann", Biographical Memoirs of the National Academy of Sciences (2014)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bormann, F Herbert 1922 births 2012 deaths American ecologists Dartmouth College faculty Duke University alumni Emory University faculty Rutgers University alumni Yale University faculty People from Westwood, New Jersey Plant ecologists United States Navy personnel of World War II