__NOTOC__ Henry J. Oosting (March 12, 1903 – October 30, 1968) was an

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

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 professor. He was born in Holland, Michigan. Oosting attended

Michigan State University Michigan State University (Michigan State, MSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, the fi ...

, where he received the M.S. degree in 1927, then studied with W.S. Cooper at 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 ...

, receiving his Ph.D. in botany in 1931, among other notable Cooper students including

Murray Fife Buell Murray Fife Buell (October 5, 1905 – July 3, 1975) was an American ecologist and palynologist. Personal life Born in New Haven, Connecticut, Buell earned a B.S. at Cornell University in 1930. He then attended the University of Minnesota, where h ...

, Rexford F. Daubenmire, Frank Edwin Egler, and Jean Langenheim.Sprugel, D.G., 1980. ''A pedagogical genealogy of plant ecologists.'' Updated 2010 at ESA Histor

In 1932, Oosting began his career at

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 ...

in the Department of Botany.Biographical Sketch by C.H. Smith.
/ref> Oosting continued teaching and research at Duke until his retirement, after which research was his focus until his death in 1968. Among his notable students are W.D. Billings,

F. Herbert Bormann F. Herbert Bormann (March 24, 1922 – June 7, 2012) was an American plant ecologist whose 1971 research within the Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest in New Hampshire with fellow scientists was credited with the discovery of acid rain. His ...

, and Wilfred B. Schofield. His influence on his field and the respect in which he was held by colleagues are apparent in several memorials.

established "Henry J. Oosting Fellows," an honor given to Ph.D. candidates, as well as an "Oosting Memorial Lecture." Dr. Chris Field, Director of the Carnegie Department of Global Ecology and Professor of Biology and Earth System Science, delivered the 40th Henry J. Oosting Memorial Lecture in April 2011. The Henry J. Oosting Natural Area was established in Orange County, North Carolina, in his honor, and is considered to have regional significance. A new species of the vascular plant genus Trillium was named Trillium oostingii in honor of Dr. Oosting by L. L. Gaddy in 2008. Ref6

Career chronology

* 1927-1932 Botany instructor,

* 1932-1968 Botany professor,

* 1955 President of Ecological Society of America * 1967 Received Meritorious Teaching Award, Association of Southeastern Biologists

Selected bibliography

References

6. Gaddy, L. L. 2008. A new sessile-flowered Trillium from South Carolina. Phytologia 90:374-381.

External links

Resolution of Respect for Henry J. Oosting
by W. Dwight Billings, at Ecological Society of America, retrieved 11/2/2011.
Henry J. Oosting papers
Rubenstein Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Duke University * Sprugel, Douglas G

Bulletin of the Ecological Society of America 61 (1980):197-200. Accessed 11/2/2011. {{DEFAULTSORT:Oosting, Henry J. Duke University faculty Michigan State University alumni University of Minnesota alumni American ecologists 1903 births 1968 deaths