Ralph Hartley Wetmore (April 27, 1892 – April 28, 1989) was a professor of botany at Harvard University from 1926 until 1962, known for his studies of plant growth and development. He was 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 ...

, American Academy of Arts and Sciences,

National Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the Nati ...

, and the New York Academy of Science, and served as president 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 ...

. Wetmore was born in

Yarmouth, Nova Scotia Yarmouth is a town in southwestern Nova Scotia, Canada. A port town, industries include fishing, and tourism. It is the terminus of a ferry service to Bar Harbor, Maine, run by Bay Ferries. History Originally inhabited by the Mi'kmaq, the regio ...

, and attended Acadia University, earning a bachelor's degree in 1921. He earned a Phd at Harvard in 1924, working under

E. C. Jeffrey Edward Charles Jeffrey (May 21, 1866 – April 19, 1952) was a Canadian- American botanist who worked on vascular plant anatomy and phylogeny. From 1892 to 1902 Jeffrey was a lecturer at the University of Toronto. While on leave of absence, he ...

, and joined the Harvard faculty in 1926. He was married to Marion G. Silver from 1923 until her death in 1935, and in 1940 married Olive (Hawkins) Smith, who later became acting dean of

Radcliffe College Radcliffe College was a women's liberal arts college in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and functioned as the female coordinate institution for the all-male Harvard College. Considered founded in 1879, it was one of the Seven Sisters colleges and he ...

. Wetmore had two daughters from his first marriage. He died in Boxford, Massachusetts, at the age of 97.

References

1892 births 1989 deaths 20th-century American botanists 20th-century Canadian botanists Harvard University alumni Harvard University faculty Acadia University alumni People from Yarmouth, Nova Scotia Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences {{Canada-botanist-stub