Effie A. Southworth
| Effie A. Southworth | |
|---|---|
| Born |
1860 North Collins, New York |
| Died |
1947 (aged 87) Los Angeles, California |
| Nationality | American |
| Fields | Botany, plant pathology |
| Institutions |
|
| Alma mater | |
| Author abbrev. (botany) | Southw. |
| Spouse | Volney Morgan Spalding |
Effie Almira Southworth (1860–1947) was an American botanist and mycologist, and the first woman plant pathologist hired by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA).[1] Her most important discovery was the 1887 description of the fungus Colletotrichum gossypii as the cause of cotton cankers, a disease which killed thousands of acres of cotton and was a major economic threat.
Education
Southworth was well educated and through her years in college she studied foreign languages, mathematics, zoology, chemistry, astronomy, physics, geology, botany, and physiology.[2] She studied at Allegheny College for one year before transferring to the University of Michigan, where she earned a bachelor's degree in 1885. In 1922, at the age of 65, she got her master's degree in botany from University of Southern California.[2]
Personal life
Southworth was born in North Collins, New York, in 1860. In 1895, Southworth married botanist Volney Morgan Spalding, a professor at the University of Michigan. After her husband was diagnosed with tuberculosis they moved from Arizona to California, he later died in 1918. Southworth She died in April 1947, in Los Angeles at the age of 87.[1][3]
Career
Effie A. Southworth was then an instructor at Bryn Mawr College for two years. During her time at Bryn Mawr she worked in the botanical laboratory, worked on the anatomical structure of plants, and was able to understand the development of the fungus Asteroma.[1] Two years later she became known as the first female researcher to be hired by the Section of Mycology of the USDA in 1887. There she worked as an assistant mycologist with Erwin F. Smith and Beverly T. Galloway and became involved in the study of fungal pathogens. As an assistant mycologist she was responsible for preparing mycological publications on deceases that were causing a huge impact on the economy.[1] In 1888 she began to study a decease that was destroying cotton farms. Three years later (1891), her major contribution to USDA was when she discovered that the fungus Colletotrichum gossypii was the reason why thousands of acres of cotton where being destroyed yearly.[2] She left the USDA in 1892 to become an assistant in botany professor at Barnard College in New York. From 1905 to 1911 she worked as her husband's assistant at the Desert Botanical Laboratory of the Carnegie Institution of Washington in Tucson, Arizona.[2] Southworth here focused more on desert plants than plant diseases.[1] After her husband's death she joined the botany faculty of University of Southern California.[2]
References
- 1 2 3 4 5 Ristaino, J.; Peterson, P. (2002). "Pioneering Women in Plant Pathology, Part I: Effie A. Southworth, First Woman Plant Pathologist Hired at USDA". The Plant Health Instructor. doi:10.1094/PHI-I-2002-0201-01.
- 1 2 3 4 5 "Discovering Women Scientists: The Legacy of Effie Southworth". American Phytopathological Society. March 16, 2001. Retrieved December 7, 2015.
- ↑ Demmon, Isaac N., ed. (1906). History of the University of Michigan, by the late Burke A. Hinsdale;. Ann Arbor,: University of Michigan. pp. 275–276.
- ↑ IPNI. Southw.