Helen Sharsmith
Encyclopedia
Helen Katherine Myers Sharsmith (August 26, 1905 – November 10, 1982) was an American biologist.
. She received an AB and MA from University of California, Berkeley
in 1927 and 1928, then worked as a high school and junior college teacher. She met her future husband, Carl Sharsmith
, while taking a class in the Yosemite Outdoor Field School in Yosemite National Park
. She and her husband married and both earned doctorates from University of California, Berkeley
, hers in 1940.
Sharsmith was a research assistance at University of California and a biology teacher while working on her degree. Later, she worked as a biology assistant at the Carnegie Institution of Washington and a senior botanist at Berkeley, where she retired in 1969.
Sharsmith's dissertation was later published as a book, Flora of the Mount Hamilton Range of California (1945). This was the result of extensive field research in the area. She also wrote Spring Wildflowers of the San Francisco Bay Region (1965).
The Sharsmiths had two children, John, named after John Muir
, and a daughter Linnea, named after Carolus Linnaeus
. They were later divorced.
Sharsmith died 1982 in Alameda County, California.
Biography
Helen Sharsmith was born 1905 in Oakland, CaliforniaOakland, California
Oakland is a major West Coast port city on San Francisco Bay in the U.S. state of California. It is the eighth-largest city in the state with a 2010 population of 390,724...
. She received an AB and MA from University of California, Berkeley
University of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley , is a teaching and research university established in 1868 and located in Berkeley, California, USA...
in 1927 and 1928, then worked as a high school and junior college teacher. She met her future husband, Carl Sharsmith
Carl Sharsmith
Carl W. Sharsmith was an American naturalist and Yosemite park ranger, notable for his knowledge and interpretation of the natural history of the Sierra Nevada. He taught botany at various universities, and discovered a species of flower in the Sierra.-Biography:Born Karl Wilhelm Schaarschmidt II...
, while taking a class in the Yosemite Outdoor Field School in Yosemite National Park
Yosemite National Park
Yosemite National Park is a United States National Park spanning eastern portions of Tuolumne, Mariposa and Madera counties in east central California, United States. The park covers an area of and reaches across the western slopes of the Sierra Nevada mountain chain...
. She and her husband married and both earned doctorates from University of California, Berkeley
University of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley , is a teaching and research university established in 1868 and located in Berkeley, California, USA...
, hers in 1940.
Sharsmith was a research assistance at University of California and a biology teacher while working on her degree. Later, she worked as a biology assistant at the Carnegie Institution of Washington and a senior botanist at Berkeley, where she retired in 1969.
Sharsmith's dissertation was later published as a book, Flora of the Mount Hamilton Range of California (1945). This was the result of extensive field research in the area. She also wrote Spring Wildflowers of the San Francisco Bay Region (1965).
The Sharsmiths had two children, John, named after John Muir
John Muir
John Muir was a Scottish-born American naturalist, author, and early advocate of preservation of wilderness in the United States. His letters, essays, and books telling of his adventures in nature, especially in the Sierra Nevada mountains of California, have been read by millions...
, and a daughter Linnea, named after Carolus Linnaeus
Carolus Linnaeus
Carl Linnaeus , also known after his ennoblement as , was a Swedish botanist, physician, and zoologist, who laid the foundations for the modern scheme of binomial nomenclature. He is known as the father of modern taxonomy, and is also considered one of the fathers of modern ecology...
. They were later divorced.
Sharsmith died 1982 in Alameda County, California.
Legacy
- Sharsmith's stickseed (Hackelia sharsmithii I.M. Johnston), named for her husband, but discovered by Sharsmith and her husband at Mirror Lake after climbing Mount WhitneyMount WhitneyMount Whitney is the highest summit in the contiguous United States with an elevation of . It is on the boundary between California's Inyo and Tulare counties, west-northwest of the lowest point in North America at Badwater in Death Valley National Park...
- Sharsmith's Onion (Allium sharsmithiae (Ownbey & Aase ex Traub) McNeal, Aliso or Allium fimbriatum S. Watson var. sharsmithiae Ownbey & Aase ex Traub.). Found in San Francisco Bay Area (Mt. Hamilton Range)
- Sharsmith's harebell or Mt. Hamilton Bellflower (Campanula sharsmithiae N. Morin). Found in San Francisco Bay Area (Mt. Hamilton Range)
See also
- O'Neill, Elizabeth Stone, Mountain Sage: The Life of Carl Sharsmith Yosemite Ranger/Naturalist 2d ed. (1996) ISBN 0-939666-47-2.