Henrietta Edgecomb Hooker (December 12, 1851 – May 13, 1929) was an American

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 ...

and professor at Mount Holyoke Female Seminary (now

Mount Holyoke College Mount Holyoke College is a private liberal arts women's college in South Hadley, Massachusetts. It is the oldest member of the historic Seven Sisters colleges, a group of elite historically women's colleges in the Northeastern United States. ...

). She was the second female doctoral graduate in botany at

Syracuse University Syracuse University (informally 'Cuse or SU) is a Private university, private research university in Syracuse, New York. Established in 1870 with roots in the Methodist Episcopal Church, the university has been nonsectarian since 1920. Locate ...

, which made her one of the first women to earn a Ph.D. in botany from any U.S. university.

Early life and education

Hooker was born to Eliza Annie Hooker and George Washington Hooker in 1851, and was orphaned at the age of seven. In 1867, at age sixteen, she began working at a New England cotton factory, but after a week of employment there, she sought help in finding a different job. Hooker taught in Vermont public schools from 1869 to 1870 then at the Academy of West Charleston from 1870 to 1871. Hooker entered Mount Holyoke Female Seminary in 1871 and graduated in 1873. She did graduate work at

MIT The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the mo ...

, and the universities of Syracuse, Berlin, and Chicago. She earned a Ph.D. from

in 1889 with a dissertation on the vine '' Cuscuta gronovii''. Hooker was among the first women to earn a Ph.D. in botany in the United States.

Career

After her graduation in 1873, Hooker joined Mount Holyoke as faculty, working alongside two other notable alumnae and women in science: former teacher Lydia Shattuck and zoologist

Cornelia Clapp Cornelia Maria Clapp (March 17, 1849 – December 31, 1934) was an American Zoology, zoologist and educator, specializing in marine biology. She earned the first Doctor of Philosophy, Ph.D. in biology awarded to a woman in the United States from ...

. In 1899, she was one of two teachers with a Ph.D. at Mount Holyoke (the other being Clapp, the first woman in the United States to be awarded that degree in biology). Hooker was a teacher at Mount Holyoke for thirty-five years. As the chair of the botany department, she advocated for expansion of the curriculum into newer branches of the field and for improvements to laboratory space and equipment. Her research focused on the morphology and embryology of

Cuscuta ''Cuscuta'' (), commonly known as dodder or amarbel, is a genus of over 201 species of yellow, orange, or red (rarely green) parasitic plants. Formerly treated as the only genus in the family Cuscutaceae, it now is accepted as belonging in the ...

, a genus of parasitic plants. Hooker's commitment to Mount Holyoke extended beyond her retirement in 1908. She bred prize-winning Buff Orpington chickens and donated the winnings to the school. Mount Holyoke awarded her an honorary Sc.D in 1923, and Hooker Auditorium is named in her honor.

Works

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References

External links

Hooker papers, 1873-1942 (bulk 1884-1927)
Mount Holyoke College Archives & Special Collections
The Photographs of Asa Kinney
includes a portrait of Henrietta Hooker and many photographs of her chickens. * {{DEFAULTSORT:Hooker, Henrietta 1851 births 1929 deaths American women botanists Syracuse University alumni Mount Holyoke College alumni Mount Holyoke College faculty People from Gardiner, Maine Scientists from Maine 19th-century American botanists 19th-century American women scientists 20th-century American botanists 20th-century American women scientists