William Campbell Steere (1907–1989) was an 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 ...

known as an expert on

bryophyte The Bryophyta s.l. are a proposed taxonomic division containing three groups of non-vascular land plants (embryophytes): the liverworts, hornworts and mosses. Bryophyta s.s. consists of the mosses only. They are characteristically limited in ...

s, especially arctic and tropical American species.

Early life

Steere was born November 4, 1907 in

Muskegon, Michigan Muskegon ( ') is a city in Michigan. It is the county seat of Muskegon County. Muskegon is known for fishing, sailing regattas, pleasure boating, and as a commercial and cruise ship port. It is a popular vacation destination because of the expa ...

to a family of

Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

Quakers Quakers are people who belong to a historically Protestant Christian set of denominations known formally as the Religious Society of Friends. Members of these movements ("theFriends") are generally united by a belief in each human's abil ...

. His paternal grandfather was

Joseph Beal Steere Joseph Beal Steere (9 February 1842 – 7 December 1940) was an American ornithologist. Steere was born in Rollin, Michigan, the son of William Millhouse and Elizabeth Cleghorn (Beal) Steere. He received a B.A. from the University of Michigan in ...

. Steere attended the

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

, and 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 with "high distinction". He briefly attended 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 ...

where he studied cytology under

William Randolph Taylor William Randolph Taylor (December 21, 1895 – November 11, 1990) was an American botanist known as an expert in phycology. Early life Taylor was born on December 21, 1895 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He attended the University of Pennsylv ...

, while also working as an instructor at

Temple University Temple University (Temple or TU) is a public state-related research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1884 by the Baptist minister Russell Conwell and his congregation Grace Baptist Church of Philadelphia then called Ba ...

. Steere was persuaded by Harley H. Bartlett to return to the

as an instructor. He earned his

M.A. A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Tho ...

in 1931 and 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 ...

from the University in 1932.

Career

Steere continued to teach botany at the University of Michigan. His research was focused on

bryology Bryology (from Greek , a moss, a liverwort) is the branch of botany concerned with the scientific study of bryophytes (mosses, liverworts, and hornworts). Bryologists are people who have an active interest in observing, recording, classifying or ...

, and he taught courses in bryology and systematic biology with a focus on Michigan's Upper Peninsula. In 1932, he led a biological survey of the Yucatan. In 1935, he spent a year at the

University of Puerto Rico The University of Puerto Rico ( es, Universidad de Puerto Rico, UPR) is the main public university system in the U.S. Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. It is a government-owned corporation with 11 campuses and approximately 58,000 students and 5,3 ...

as an exchange professor. Between 1942 and 1946, Steere led expeditions in

Latin America Latin America or * french: Amérique Latine, link=no * ht, Amerik Latin, link=no * pt, América Latina, link=no, name=a, sometimes referred to as LatAm is a large cultural region in the Americas where Romance languages — languages derived f ...

searching for

Cinchona ''Cinchona'' (pronounced or ) is a genus of flowering plants in the family Rubiaceae containing at least 23 species of trees and shrubs. All are native to the Tropical Andes, tropical Andean forests of western South America. A few species are ...

and sources of

quinine Quinine is a medication used to treat malaria and babesiosis. This includes the treatment of malaria due to ''Plasmodium falciparum'' that is resistant to chloroquine when artesunate is not available. While sometimes used for nocturnal leg cr ...

, dubbed the

Cinchona Mission The Cinchona Missions (1942-1945) were a series of expeditions led by the United States to find natural sources of quinine in South America during World War II. Background Bark of species from the genus ''Cinchona'' produces the alkaloid quinine, ...

. He became a full professor at the University of Michigan in 1946 and Chair of the Botany Department in 1947. In 1948 and 1949, Steere studied effects of naturally occurring radioactivity on plant life at

Great Bear Lake Great Bear Lake ( den, Sahtú; french: Grand lac de l'Ours) is a lake in the boreal forest of Canada. It is the largest lake entirely in Canada (Lake Superior and Lake Huron are larger but straddle the Canada–US border), the fourth-largest ...

and in

Alaska Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U.S., ...

. He was the first bryologist to visit the northern slopes of the American Arctic Mountains. Steere, starting in 1950, spent eight years at

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 ...

as professor and dean of the Graduate Division. Between 1954 and 1955, Steere took a sabbatical from Stanford and accepted a one-year position with the

National Science Foundation The National Science Foundation (NSF) is an independent agency of the United States government that supports fundamental research and education in all the non-medical fields of science and engineering. Its medical counterpart is the National I ...

as Program Director in Systematic Biology. He became involved with

Biological Abstracts Biological Abstracts is a database produced by Clarivate Analytics. It includes abstracts from peer-reviewed academic journal articles in the fields of biology, biochemistry, biotechnology, botany, pre-clinical and experimental medicine, pharmaco ...

and

BIOSIS BIOSIS Previews is an English-language, bibliographic database service, with abstracts and citation indexing. It is part of ''Clarivate Analytics Web of Science'' suite. BIOSIS Previews indexes data from 1926 to the present. BIOSIS Previews i ...

. In 1958, Steere joined the

New York Botanical Garden The New York Botanical Garden (NYBG) is a botanical garden at Bronx Park in the Bronx, New York City. Established in 1891, it is located on a site that contains a landscape with over one million living plants; the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory, ...

as director. Steere assumed the title of Senior Scientist in 1973, before formally retiring from the Garden in 1977. As President Emeritus, however, Steere continued his bryological research at the Garden until his death on February 7, 1989.

Legacy

Steere is commemorated in the names of the plant genera, mainly

liverwort The Marchantiophyta () are a division of non-vascular land plants commonly referred to as hepatics or liverworts. Like mosses and hornworts, they have a gametophyte-dominant life cycle, in which cells of the plant carry only a single set of g ...

s; '' Steereocolea'' ( Balantiopsaceae family), '' Steerea'' (

Jubulaceae The family Jubulaceae is a family of liverworts. The family name is derived from the genus ''Jubula''. Genera According to GBIF The Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) is an international organisation that focuses on making scient ...

family), '' Steereobryon'' (

Polytrichaceae Polytrichaceae is a common family of mosses. Members of this family tend to be larger than other mosses with a thickened central stem and a rhizome. The leaves have a midrib that bears photosynthetic lamellae on the upper surface. Species in ...

family),'' Steerella'' (

Metzgeriaceae Metzgeriaceae is a family of thallose liverworts in the order Metzgeriales Metzgeriales is an Order (biology), order of Marchantiophyta, liverworts. The group is sometimes called the simple thalloid liverworts: "thallus, thalloid" because th ...

), ''Steereochila'' (

Plagiochilaceae Plagiochilaceae is a family of liverworts in the order Jungermanniales Jungermanniales is the largest order of liverworts. They are distinctive among the liverworts for having thin leaf-like flaps on either side of the stem. Most other liverwo ...

, listed as doubtful genera,) and ''Steereomitrium'' ( Haplomitriaceae, listed as doubtful genera,). He is the namesake of many species.William Campbell Steere (1907-1989). (1989). The Bryologist, 92(3), 414-419. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/3243414 The New York Botanical Garden bryophyte herbarium was named the William C. Steere Bryophyte Herbarium in 2000, and it contains over 600,000 specimens. The Garden has also established the William Campbell Steere Fund to help bryologists who wish to visit their herbarium and library.

Mount Steere Mount Steere is a prominent shield volcano standing 6.4 km (4 mi) NNW of Mount Frakes in the Crary Mountains of Marie Byrd Land, Antarctica. Mapped by USGS from ground surveys and U.S. Navy air photos, 1959–66. Named by US-ACAN for ...

in Antarctica is named for him. Steere's son, William C. Steere Jr., was CEO of

Pfizer Pfizer Inc. ( ) is an American multinational pharmaceutical and biotechnology corporation headquartered on 42nd Street in Manhattan, New York City. The company was established in 1849 in New York by two German entrepreneurs, Charles Pfizer ...

from 1991 to 2001, and Chairman of the Board Emeritus from 2001 to 2011. He also served as Vice Chairman of the New York Botanical Garden's Board.

Awards

In 1970, Steere was the last recipient of the

Mary Soper Pope Memorial Award The Mary Soper Pope Memorial Award, informally known as the Mary Soper Pope Medal, was awarded by the Cranbrook Institute of Science of Detroit, Michigan, for notable achievement in plant sciences. It was inaugurated in 1946, and the last award wa ...

in botany."Cranbrook Institute of Science Director's Papers"
Cranbrook website. Retrieved Dec. 27, 2016. In 1972, he was awarded the

Order of the Sacred Treasure The is a Japanese order, established on 4 January 1888 by Emperor Meiji as the Order of Meiji. Originally awarded in eight classes (from 8th to 1st, in ascending order of importance), since 2003 it has been awarded in six classes, the lowest ...

from

Emperor Hirohito Emperor , commonly known in English-speaking countries by his personal name , was the 124th emperor of Japan, ruling from 25 December 1926 until his death in 1989. Hirohito and his wife, Empress Kōjun, had two sons and five daughters; he was ...

for his work on the US-Japan Cooperative Science Program. In 1987, the

International Association of Bryologists The International Association of Bryologists (IAB), established in 1969, is a professional association promoting bryology (the study of mosses, liverworts and hornworts) globally for both amateurs and professionals. IAB was established in 1969 at t ...

awarded him with the Hedwig Medal.

Selected publications

*Steere, William C. 1935. ''The Mosses of Yucatán''. Reprinted Lancaster Press, 14 pp. *Steere, William C. 1946. ''Cenozoic and Mesozoic Bryophytes of North America''. Ed. The University Press, 30 pp. *Steere, William C. 1947. ''The Bryophyte Flora of Michigan'', 24 pp. *Steere, William C.; Anderson, Lewis E.; Bryan, Virginia S. 1954. ''Chromosome Studies on California Mosses''. Vv. 20 & 24 from Memoirs of the Torrey Botanical Club, 74 pp. *Steere, William C. 1958. ''Fifty Years of Botany'', ed. W.C. Steere & McGraw-Hill, 638 pp. *Steere, William C. 1961. ''The Bryophytes of South Georgia''. Reprinted, 25 pp. *Steere, William C. 1964. ''Liverworts of Southern Michigan''. Bull. 17: Cranbrook Institute of Sci. 97 pp. *Steere, William C. 1976. ''Ecology, Phytogeography and Floristics of Arctic Alaskan Bryophytes''. Reprinted Hattori Bot. Lab. 26 pp. *Steere, William C. 1978. ''North American Muscology and Muscologists: A Brief History''. The Botanical Review 43 (3): 1-59 *Steere, William C; Brassard, Guy R. 1978. ''Bryophytorum bibliotheca, Studies in austral temperate rain forest bryophytes''. Bryophytorum bibliotheca 14, ed. ilustr. by J. Cramer, 508 pp.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Steere, William Campbell 1907 births 1989 deaths 20th-century American botanists University of Michigan College of Literature, Science, and the Arts alumni University of Michigan faculty Stanford University faculty Bryologists Botanists active in the Arctic