Helen Margaret Gilkey (1886–1972) was an American

mycologist Mycology is the branch of biology concerned with the study of fungus, fungi, including their genetics, genetic and biochemistry, biochemical properties, their Taxonomy (biology), taxonomy and ethnomycology, their use to humans, including as a so ...

and

botanist Botany, also called , plant biology or phytology, is the science of plant life and a branch of biology. A botanist, plant scientist or phytologist is a scientist who specialises in this field. The term "botany" comes from the Ancient Greek wo ...

, as well as a botanical illustrator and watercolor artist She was born on March 6, 1886 in Montesano, Washington and moved to

Corvallis, Oregon Corvallis ( ) is a city and the county seat of Benton County in central western Oregon, United States. It is the principal city of the Corvallis, Oregon Metropolitan Statistical Area, which encompasses all of Benton County. As of the 2020 United ...

with her family in 1903. She died in 1972 at the age of 86.

Education

Gilkey received both a bachelor's and a master's degree from Oregon Agricultural College (now Oregon State University) for her studies in botany (including mycology) and botanical illustration. She continued her studies at the University of California, Berkeley, and in 1915 she became the first woman to receive a Ph.D. in botany there. Gilkey's doctoral dissertation focused on the taxonomy of North American truffles (order Tuberales), and her published dissertation remains an important contribution to the study of truffle taxonomy in North America.

Career

After completing her doctoral studies, Gilkey worked as a scientific illustrator. She contributed original illustrations to Willis Linn Jepson's ''Manual of Flowering Plants of California.'' In 1918, Gilkey secured a position as the

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 ...

curator at the Oregon Agricultural College. Gilkey was best known for her extensive studies on truffles, but she also conducted research on vascular plants. Gilkey described many species of truffles from the United States as well as a few from Argentina and

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

. Her 1939 monograph is the most comprehensive work on Tuberales of North America. . Over the course of her academic career, Gilkey published many books and over 40 scientific articles, with the last book being her ''Handbook of Northwestern Plants'', published in 1967.

Awards and honors

In 1952, Gilkey received the "Outstanding Scientist" award from the Oregon Academy of Science, and she won the same award from the Northwest Scientific Association in 1969. In 2006, the truffle genus '' Gilkeya'' was named in her honor.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gilkey, Helen Margaret 1886 births 1972 deaths American mycologists University of California, Berkeley alumni Oregon State University faculty People from Corvallis, Oregon People from Montesano, Washington 20th-century American botanists American women botanists American women academics 20th-century American women scientists