Sereno Watson (December 1, 1826 – March 9, 1892) was an American

botanist Botany, also called plant science, is the branch of natural science and biology studying plants, especially Plant anatomy, their anatomy, Plant taxonomy, taxonomy, and Plant ecology, ecology. A botanist or plant scientist is a scientist who s ...

Life

Watson was born on December 1, 1826, in East Windsor Hill,

Connecticut Connecticut ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York (state), New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. ...

. Graduating from Yale in 1847 in biology, he drifted through various occupations until, in California, he joined the Clarence King Expedition and eventually became its expedition botanist. Appointed by

Asa Gray Asa Gray (November 18, 1810 – January 30, 1888) is considered the most important American botany, botanist of the 19th century. His ''Darwiniana'' (1876) was considered an important explanation of how religion and science were not necessaril ...

as assistant in the Gray Herbarium of

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

in 1873, he later became its

curator A curator (from , meaning 'to take care') is a manager or overseer. When working with cultural organizations, a curator is typically a "collections curator" or an "exhibitions curator", and has multifaceted tasks dependent on the particular ins ...

, a position he maintained until his death. Watson was elected a Fellow of the

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (The Academy) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, and other ...

in 1874, and a member of the

National Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, NGO, 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 ...

in 1889. He died on March 9, 1892, in

Cambridge, Massachusetts Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. It is a suburb in the Greater Boston metropolitan area, located directly across the Charles River from Boston. The city's population as of the 2020 United States census, ...

Works

* ''Botany'', in ''Report of the geological exploration of the 40th parallel made ... by Clarence King'', 1871 * * * Publications by and about S. Watso
on WorldCat

References

External links

Biographical sketch at the Gray Herbarium siteBiographical memoir
National Academy of Sciences
Obituary, page 441Portrait (plate VI) and obituary
by John Merle Coulter (137–141) * American taxonomists 1826 births 1892 deaths Botanists active in California Botanists active in North America Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences Harvard University staff Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences People from South Windsor, Connecticut Yale University alumni 19th-century American botanists {{US-botanist-stub