D. Vivian Lee Bowden (February 23, 1943 – January 9, 2017) was a science journalist who discovered the unpublished drawings of early French botanist Antoine Nicolas Duchesne and authored an influential history of the garden strawberry. Her extensive research conducted in both Europe and America has been widely cited. __TOC__

Life and education

D. Vivian Lee was born in

Washington DC ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

, on February 23, 1943. She received her BS from

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...

and her MS from Columbia School of Journalism. Before marriage, she worked as a science journalist for ''Life'' magazine. She married Douglas M. Bowden in New York, NY in 1966. Lee Bowden resumed her education after raising a family, and earned a Master of Divinity from the Pacific School of Religion in

Berkeley, California Berkeley ( ) is a city on the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay in northern Alameda County, California, United States. It is named after the 18th-century Irish bishop and philosopher George Berkeley. It borders the cities of Oakland and Emer ...

Research

Lee conducted extensive research in her work on the historical background of the strawberry. At the behest of

Henry A. Wallace Henry Agard Wallace (October 7, 1888 – November 18, 1965) was an American politician, journalist, farmer, and businessman who served as the 33rd vice president of the United States, the 11th U.S. Secretary of Agriculture, and the 10th U.S. S ...

, Lee visited France, Germany and the Netherlands in summer 1962 to research the history of the garden strawberry. On July 10, 1962, she discovered in the Paris Jardin des Plantes a collection of 73 original drawings of ''

Fragaria ''Fragaria'' () is a genus of flowering plants in the rose family, Rosaceae, commonly known as strawberries for their edible fruits. There are more than 20 described species and many hybrids and cultivars. The most common strawberries grown com ...

'' by Antoine Nicolas Duchesne. Duchesne prepared these for use in his monumental book describing strawberry history, taxonomy, and cultivation. Due to budgetary constraints, the drawings were not published, and were overlooked for almost 200 years. The drawings provide significant historical context for the pioneering work of Duchesne. Lee made her discovery at age 19, the same age that Duchesne published his book. Lee presented her findings in an invited talk at a national meeting, and wrote four chapters on the history of strawberry for the positively reviewed and widely cited book ''The Strawberry: History, Breeding and Physiology''. Her contribution is clearly acknowledged in the preface, but not on the title page, and most subsequent authors have misattributed the chapters to

George M. Darrow George McMillan Darrow (1889–1983) was an American horticulturist and the foremost authority on strawberries. He worked for the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA-ARS) for forty-six years as the pomologist in charge of research on ...

, a USDA strawberry geneticist. In his discussion of the nomenclature of the garden strawberry, taxonomist M. Guédès alludes to the thoroughness of her scholarship, and properly cites her contribution.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lee Bowden, Vivian 1943 births 2017 deaths Journalists from Washington, D.C. Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism alumni Pacific School of Religion alumni Stanford University alumni American science journalists American women journalists 21st-century American women