Helge Ness (November 4, 1861 – December 30, 1928) was a Norwegian

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 ...

. He was born in

Rosendal, Norway Rosendal is the administrative centre of the municipality of Kvinnherad in Vestland county, Norway. The village is located on the southern shore of the Hardangerfjorden, about north of the village of Dimmelsvik and about straight west of the va ...

. In 1889, he became the first international student to graduate from

Texas A&M University Texas A&M University (Texas A&M, A&M, or TAMU) is a public, land-grant, research university in College Station, Texas. It was founded in 1876 and became the flagship institution of the Texas A&M University System in 1948. As of late 2021, T ...

, and began to work at that university. Ness was the first botanist in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

to produce hybrid

oak An oak is a tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' (; Latin "oak tree") of the beech family, Fagaceae. There are approximately 500 extant species of oaks. The common name "oak" also appears in the names of species in related genera, notably ''L ...

s. He became head of the Botanical Division of Texas Agricultural Experiment Station (now

Texas AgriLife Research Texas A&M AgriLife Research is the agricultural and life sciences research agency of the U.S. state of Texas and a part of the Texas A&M University System. Formerly named Texas Agricultural Research Service, the agency's name was changed January 1 ...

). Ness was part of a group of botanists at the beginning of the 20th century who studied controlled pollination in trees and pioneered studies of tree hybridization.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ness, Helge 1861 births 1928 deaths People from Kvinnherad 20th-century Norwegian botanists 19th-century Norwegian botanists Norwegian emigrants to the United States