Hui-lin Li (李慧林, 1911–2002) was a Chinese

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 ...

, academic, and researcher who worked at the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...

National Taiwan University National Taiwan University (NTU; ) is a public research university in Taipei, Taiwan. The university was founded in 1928 during Japanese rule as the seventh of the Imperial Universities. It was named Taihoku Imperial University and served d ...

, and

Chinese Academy of Sciences The Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS); ), known by Academia Sinica in English until the 1980s, is the national academy of the People's Republic of China for natural sciences. It has historical origins in the Academia Sinica during the Republ ...

Biography

Hui-lin Li was born in

Soochow Suzhou (; ; Suzhounese: ''sou¹ tseu¹'' , Mandarin: ), alternately romanized as Soochow, is a major city in southern Jiangsu province, East China. Suzhou is the largest city in Jiangsu, and a major economic center and focal point of trade ...

, a city close to

Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flow ...

. Li earned Biology degrees from Soochow University (B.S., 1930) and

Yenching University Yenching University (), was a university in Beijing, China, that was formed out of the merger of four Christian colleges between the years 1915 and 1920. The term "Yenching" comes from an alternative name for old Beijing, derived from its status ...

(M.S., 1932). In 1940, he traveled to the United States, and earned a Ph.D. in Biology from

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

in 1942. From 1943 to 1946 Li studied under

Francis W. Pennell Francis Whittier Pennell (4 August 1886 – 3 February 1952) was an American botanist best known for his studies of the Scrophulariaceae. Employed by the New York Botanical Garden and then by the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, he carri ...

and Jacob R. Schramm at the

Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia The Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University, formerly the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, is the oldest natural science research institution and museum in the Americas. It was founded in 1812, by many of the leading nat ...

. Li was appointed to a professorship at Soochow University in 1946 and at

Taipei Taipei (), officially Taipei City, is the capital and a special municipality of the Republic of China (Taiwan). Located in Northern Taiwan, Taipei City is an enclave of the municipality of New Taipei City that sits about southwest of the n ...

in 1947. He returned to the United States and carried out research at the

University of Virginia The University of Virginia (UVA) is a Public university#United States, public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia. Founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson, the university is ranked among the top academic institutions in the United S ...

in 1950, the

Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums and education and research centers, the largest such complex in the world, created by the U.S. government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge". Founded ...

in 1951, and the

Morris Arboretum The Morris Arboretum of the University of Pennsylvania (37 ha / 92 acres) is the official arboretum of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. The Arboretum is open daily except for major holidays. It is located at 100 East Northwestern Avenue, Chestnut ...

of the University of Pennsylvania in 1952. In 1958 Li joined the faculty at the University of Pennsylvania, where he remained until retiring in 1979. The collected Hui-lin Li Papers are archived at the University of Pennsylvania.

Selected publications

From 1932 to 1983, Hui-lin Li published over 200 papers and 9 books. Some notable books are: *(1952)
Floristic Relationships Between Eastern Asia and Eastern North America
' *(1959)
The Garden Flowers of China
' *(1963)
The Origin and Cultivation of Shade and Ornamental Trees
' * (1972)
Trees of Pennsylvania: the Atlantic States and the Lake States
' *(1982)
Contributions to Botany: Studies in Plant Geography, Phylogeny and Evolution, Ethnobotany and Dendrological and Horticultural Botany
' *(2002)
Chinese Flower Arrangement
'. Li was chair of the editorial committee and a contributor to the (1975-1979) ''

Flora of Taiwan The Flora of Taiwan () is the flora of the country of Taiwan, also known as the Republic of China.''Flora of Taiwan'' also refers to a set of books recording the vascular plants of Taiwan (territories). The second edition consists of six volumes pub ...

'', and the first translator of the ''c.'' 304 ''

Nanfang Caomu Zhuang The (c. 304 CE) ''Nanfang caomu zhuang'' (南方草木狀 ''Plants of the Southern Regions''), attributed to the Western Jin dynasty scholar and botanist Ji Han (嵇含, 263-307), is a Flora describing the plants of Nanyue and Jiaozhi, pres ...

'' "Plants of the Southern Regions" (1979).

Awards and honors

Li was awarded a Harrison Fellowship for Research at the

in 1943, a

Guggenheim Fellowship Guggenheim Fellowships are grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation to those "who have demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the ar ...

in 1961, and a

Fulbright Fellowship The Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright–Hays Program, is one of several United States Cultural Exchange Programs with the goal of improving intercultural relations, cultural diplomacy, and intercultural competence between the people of ...

in 1968. He won research grants from institutions such as the

American Philosophical Society The American Philosophical Society (APS), founded in 1743 in Philadelphia, is a scholarly organization that promotes knowledge in the sciences and humanities through research, professional meetings, publications, library resources, and communit ...

and

American Council of Learned Societies 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 ...

. Li was elected a member of the

Academia Sinica Academia Sinica (AS, la, 1=Academia Sinica, 3=Chinese Academy; ), headquartered in Nangang, Taipei, is the national academy of Taiwan. Founded in Nanking, the academy supports research activities in a wide variety of disciplines, ranging from ...

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...

in 1964, and was a visiting Professor of Biology at the

Chinese University of Hong Kong The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) is a public research university in Ma Liu Shui, Hong Kong, formally established in 1963 by a charter granted by the Legislative Council of Hong Kong. It is the territory's second-oldest university an ...

from 1964 to 1965.

References

External links

Hui Lin Li Ph.D. obituary
''The Washington Post'', 21 December 2002 {{DEFAULTSORT:Li, Hu-lin Botanists with author abbreviations 1911 births 2002 deaths National Taiwan University faculty 20th-century Chinese botanists Harvard University alumni University of Pennsylvania faculty University of Pennsylvania Department of Biology faculty Biologists from Jiangsu Scientists from Suzhou Chinese science writers Writers from Suzhou Chinese emigrants to the United States