Aven Nelson (March 24, 1859 – March 31, 1952) was an American botanist who specialized in plants of the

Rocky Mountains The Rocky Mountains, also known as the Rockies, are a major mountain range and the largest mountain system in North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch in straight-line distance from the northernmost part of western Canada, to New Mexico in ...

. He was one of the founding professors of the

University of Wyoming The University of Wyoming (UW) is a public land-grant research university in Laramie, Wyoming. It was founded in March 1886, four years before the territory was admitted as the 44th state, and opened in September 1887. The University of Wyoming ...

, where he taught for 55 years as professor and served as president (1918-1922). He served as president of the

American Society of Plant Taxonomists The American Society of Plant Taxonomists (ASPT) is a botanical organization formed in 1935 to "foster, encourage, and promote education and research in the field of plant taxonomy, to include those areas and fields of study that contribute to and b ...

and

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 ...

Biography

Nelson was born at Sugar Creek, in

Lee County, Iowa Lee County is the southernmost county in the U.S. state of Iowa. As of the 2020 census, the population was 33,555. The county seats are Fort Madison and Keokuk. Lee County is part of the Fort Madison–Keokuk, IA- IL- MO Micropolitan Sta ...

to parents Christen Nelson and Anne (Evenson) Nelson, who had immigrated from Norway. Aven was the youngest of four children in a Quaker family. He attended Kirksville State Normal School in

Kirksville, Missouri Kirksville is the county seat and most populous city in Adair County, Missouri. Located in Benton Township, its population was 17,530 at the 2020 census. Kirksville is home to two colleges: Truman State University and A.T. Still University. ...

from which he was graduated in 1883 with his Bachelor of Arts degree, while in 1887 he received the M. S. D. degree. He further continued his education in

Drury College Drury University, formerly Drury College and originally Springfield College, is a private university in Springfield, Missouri. The university's mission statement describes itself as "church-related". It enrolls about 1,700 undergraduate and grad ...

Springfield, Missouri Springfield is the third largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri and the county seat of Greene County. The city's population was 169,176 at the 2020 census. It is the principal city of the Springfield metropolitan area, which had an estimat ...

, which conferred upon him a Master of Science degree in 1890. He next entered

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 ...

was awarded the Master of Arts degree in 1892. In 1893, he co-founded the Rocky Mountain Herbarium. He came to the University of Wyoming in 1887. In 1901, he was made 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 ...

. In 1904, the

University of Denver The University of Denver (DU) is a private university, private research university in Denver, Colorado. Founded in 1864, it is the oldest independent private university in the Mountain States, Rocky Mountain Region of the United States. It is ...

conferred upon him the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. In 1917, Nelson was named acting president, then president (1918) of the University of Wyoming, a position he held until 1922. In 1934, he was elected president of the

. In 1927, he co-founded the Colorado-Wyoming Academy of Science. In 1935, he became president of the

Personal life

In 1885, he married Celia Alice Calhoun (1860-1929). They were the parents of two children. In 1931, he married fellow botanist Ruth Elizabeth Ashton (1896-1987) in

Santa Fe, New Mexico Santa Fe ( ; , Spanish for 'Holy Faith'; tew, Oghá P'o'oge, Tewa for 'white shell water place'; tiw, Hulp'ó'ona, label=Tiwa language, Northern Tiwa; nv, Yootó, Navajo for 'bead + water place') is the capital of the U.S. state of New Mexico. ...

. He died in

Colorado Springs, Colorado Colorado Springs is a home rule municipality in, and the county seat of, El Paso County, Colorado, United States. It is the largest city in El Paso County, with a population of 478,961 at the 2020 United States Census, a 15.02% increase since ...

in 1952. The Aven Nelson Memorial Building on the campus of the University of Wyoming is named in his honor.

Selected works

''First report on the flora of Wyoming''
(1896)
''The Trees of Wyoming and How to Know Them''
(1899)
''The Red Desert of Wyoming and its forage resources''
(1898) *''The Flora of Montana'' (1900) *''The Cryptogams of Wyoming. A Preliminary Report upon those Species'' (1900)
''The Brome-Grasses of Wyoming''
(1901)
''An Analytical Key to Some of the Common Flowering Plants of the Rocky Mountain Region''
(1902)
''Shade tree suggestions''
(1903) *''Spring Flora of the Intermountain States'' (1912)

Note

References

Other sources

*Knobloch, Frieda E. (2005) ''Botanical Companions: a Memoir of Plants and Place'' (University of Iowa Press) * *

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Nelson, Aven American taxonomists 1859 births 1952 deaths Presidents of the University of Wyoming University of Wyoming faculty Drury University alumni Harvard University alumni University of Denver alumni American people of Norwegian descent People from Lee County, Iowa 19th-century American botanists 20th-century American botanists Truman State University alumni