Hugo Leander Blomquist
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Hugo Leander Blomquist (June 5, 1888 – November 28, 1964) was a
Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...
-born 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 ...
. His well rounded expertise encompassed fungi, bacteria, bryophytes, algae, grasses, and ferns.


Early life

Although several sources state his birth year as 1885, Blomquist was actually born in 1888 in
Sorsele Sorsele (; sma, Suarsa; Ume Sami: ) is a locality and the seat of Sorsele Municipality in Västerbotten County, province of Lapland, Sweden with 1,277 inhabitants in 2010. Sorsele is also the nearest town to the ski resort Nalovardo. It is known ...
,
Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...
. In 1892, his family emigrated to
Kulm, North Dakota Kulm is a city in LaMoure County, North Dakota, United States. The population was 368 at the 2020 census. Kulm was founded in 1892. Geography Kulm is located at (46.301844, -98.948135). According to the United States Census Bureau, the city ha ...
. He earned his
B.S. A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University ...
in botany from the
University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chicago is consistently ranked among the b ...
in 1916. He enrolled in graduate school, but his studies were interrupted by
World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
. From 1917 to 1919, Blomquist served as a musician first class in the
U.S. Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cl ...
. After the war, he briefly studied at
Pasteur Institute The Pasteur Institute (french: Institut Pasteur) is a French non-profit private foundation dedicated to the study of biology, micro-organisms, diseases, and vaccines. It is named after Louis Pasteur, who invented pasteurization and vaccines f ...
before finishing his
Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is a ...
at the University of Chicago. He completed his doctorate in botany under William Jesse Goad Land in 1921. Anderson, Lewis E. (1965). In Memoriam: Hugo Leander Blomquist, 1885-1964. The Bryologist, 68(2), 251-254. Retrieved from https://www.jstor.org/stable/3241029


Career

Blomquist was hired as Assistant Professor of Biology at Trinity College, now
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 ...
, after his graduation in 1921. He was promoted to full professorship two years later, and in 1935, he became Chairman of Botany. Although retired in 1953, he remained as an
emeritus ''Emeritus'' (; female: ''emerita'') is an adjective used to designate a retired chair, professor, pastor, bishop, pope, director, president, prime minister, rabbi, emperor, or other person who has been "permitted to retain as an honorary title ...
professor. He was active in his field until a few years before his death. Throughout his career, Blomquist had a leading role in many botanical societies. He served as chairman of the Southeastern Section of the
Botanical Society of America The Botanical Society of America (BSA) represents professional and amateur botanists, researchers, educators and students in over 80 countries of the world. It functions as a United States nonprofit 501(c)(3) membership society. History The soci ...
, president of the
American Fern Society The American Fern Society was founded in 1893. Today, it has more than 1,000 members around the world, with various local chapters. Among its deceased members, perhaps the most famous is Oliver Sacks, who became a member in 1993. Willard N. Clut ...
, president of the
American Bryological and Lichenological Society The American Bryological and Lichenological Society is an organization devoted to the scientific study of all aspects of the biology of bryophytes and lichen-forming fungi and is one of the nation's oldest botanical organizations. It was origina ...
, president of the
Southern Appalachian Botanical Society The Southern Appalachian Botanical Society (formerly the Southern Appalachian Botanical Club) is an American botany, botanical learned society, society formed in 1935 at West Virginia University. The focus of the society has gradually changed and n ...
, president of the North Carolina Academy of Science, and president/founding member of the
Association of Southeastern Biologists The Association of Southeastern Biologists (ASB) is a scientific professional organization in the southeastern United States focused on promoting research and education across the biological sciences. The ASB hosts an annual meeting featuring pape ...
. He was also a fellow of the
American Association for the Advancement of Science The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is an American international non-profit organization with the stated goals of promoting cooperation among scientists, defending scientific freedom, encouraging scientific respons ...
and a member of several other groups.


Legacy

About 3,500 of Blomquist's specimens are cataloged by the
University of North Carolina The University of North Carolina is the multi-campus public university system for the state of North Carolina. Overseeing the state's 16 public universities and the NC School of Science and Mathematics, it is commonly referred to as the UNC Sy ...
Herbarium, and the Duke University Herbarium holds about 10,000 of his specimens. The H.L. Blomquist Garden of Southeastern Native Plants, part of the Sarah P. Duke Gardens at Duke University, is named for him. The Hugo L. Blomquist Professor of Psychology & Neuroscience is a distinguished professorship at Duke University.


Selected publications

*Blomquist, H.L. (1931) Genetics of mosses. Journ. Elisha Mitchell Sci. Soc. 46: 267-275. *Blomquist, H.L. (1934
Ferns of North Carolina
Durham, North Carolina: Duke University Press. ith_an_introduction_by_ ith_an_introduction_by_Donald_C._Peattie">Donald_C._Peattie.html"_;"title="ith_an_introduction_by_Donald_C._Peattie">ith_an_introduction_by_Donald_C._Peattie
*Blomquist,_H.L._(1938)__Peat_mosses_of_the_southeastern_States.__Jour._Elisha_Mitchell_Sci._Soc.__54:__1-21. *Blomquist,_H.L._(1939)__Grasses_new_to_North_Carolina.__Castanea_4_(4/5):__50-55._ *Louis_G._Williams.html" ;"title="Donald_C._Peattie.html" ;"title="Donald_C._Peattie.html" ;"title="ith an introduction by Donald C. Peattie">ith an introduction by Donald C. Peattie">Donald_C._Peattie.html" ;"title="ith an introduction by Donald C. Peattie">ith an introduction by Donald C. Peattie *Blomquist, H.L. (1938) Peat mosses of the southeastern States. Jour. Elisha Mitchell Sci. Soc. 54: 1-21. *Blomquist, H.L. (1939) Grasses new to North Carolina. Castanea 4 (4/5): 50-55. *Louis G. Williams">Williams, Louis G. and H.L. Blomquist (1947) A collection of marine algae from Brazil. Bull. Torrey Bot. Club 74(5): 383-397. *Blomquist, H.L. (1948) The grasses of North Carolina. Durham, North Carolina: Duke University Press. *Greene, Wilhelmina F. and Hugo L. Blomquist (1953) Flowers of the South, Native and Exotic. Chapel Hill North Carolina: University of North Carolina Press.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Blomquist, Hugo Leander Bryologists Botanists with author abbreviations Swedish botanists 1888 births 1964 deaths Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science University of Chicago alumni Swedish emigrants to the United States