John Merle Coulter
Encyclopedia
John Merle Coulter, Ph. D. (November 20, 1851 – December 23, 1928) was an American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
botanist and educator, brother of Stanley Coulter
Stanley Coulter
Stanley Coulter was an American biologist, brother of J. M. Coulter, born at Ningpo, China, and educated at Hanover College. In 1887 he was appointed professor of biology at Purdue...
, born at Ningpo, China
Ningbo
Ningbo is a seaport city of northeastern Zhejiang province, Eastern China. Holding sub-provincial administrative status, the municipality has a population of 7,605,700 inhabitants at the 2010 census whom 3,089,180 in the built up area made of 6 urban districts. It lies south of the Hangzhou Bay,...
. He received his education at Hanover College
Hanover College
Hanover College is a private liberal arts college, located in Hanover, Indiana, near the banks of the Ohio River. The college is affiliated with the Presbyterian Church . The college was founded in 1827 by the Rev. John Finley Crowe, making it the oldest private college in Indiana. The Hanover...
in Indiana
Indiana
Indiana is a US state, admitted to the United States as the 19th on December 11, 1816. It is located in the Midwestern United States and Great Lakes Region. With 6,483,802 residents, the state is ranked 15th in population and 16th in population density. Indiana is ranked 38th in land area and is...
. He served in the Rocky Mountains
Rocky Mountains
The Rocky Mountains are a major mountain range in western North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch more than from the northernmost part of British Columbia, in western Canada, to New Mexico, in the southwestern United States...
for two years (1872–73) as botanist to the United States Geological Survey
United States Geological Survey
The United States Geological Survey is a scientific agency of the United States government. The scientists of the USGS study the landscape of the United States, its natural resources, and the natural hazards that threaten it. The organization has four major science disciplines, concerning biology,...
. He became professor of natural science at Hanover College, professor of biology at Wabash College
Wabash College
Wabash College is a small, private, liberal arts college for men, located in Crawfordsville, Indiana. Along with Hampden-Sydney College and Morehouse College, Wabash is one of only three remaining traditional all-men's liberal arts colleges in the United States.-History:Wabash College was founded...
(1879), president of Indiana University
Indiana University Bloomington
Indiana University Bloomington is a public research university located in Bloomington, Indiana, in the United States. IU Bloomington is the flagship campus of the Indiana University system. Being the flagship campus, IU Bloomington is often referred to simply as IU or Indiana...
from 1891 to 1893, and from 1893 to 1896 he presided over Lake Forest University
Lake Forest College
Lake Forest College, founded in 1857, is a private liberal arts college in Lake Forest, Illinois. The college has 1,500 students representing 47 states and 78 countries....
. In 1896 he became head of the department of botany at the University of Chicago
University of Chicago
The University of Chicago is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was founded by the American Baptist Education Society with a donation from oil magnate and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller and incorporated in 1890...
. In 1875 he founded Botanical Gazette and thereafter continued to be its editor.
In 1909, Coulter and his wife Grace, along with their children Grace and Merle, survived the sinking of the White Star liner
White Star Line
The Oceanic Steam Navigation Company or White Star Line of Boston Packets, more commonly known as the White Star Line, was a prominent British shipping company, today most famous for its ill-fated vessel, the RMS Titanic, and the World War I loss of Titanics sister ship Britannic...
Republic
RMS Republic (1903)
RMS Republic was a steam-powered ocean liner built in 1903 by Harland and Wolff in Belfast, and lost at sea in a collision six years later while sailing for the White Star Line. A CQD distress call was issued on the new Marconi radio device, the first recorded, resulting in the saving of around...
in which six were killed.
In 1925, Coulter moved to Yonkers, New York
Yonkers, New York
Yonkers is the fourth most populous city in the state of New York , and the most populous city in Westchester County, with a population of 195,976...
to help organize the new Boyce Thompson Institute for Plant Research
Boyce Thompson Institute for Plant Research
The Boyce Thompson Institute for Plant Research is a research and education organization devoted to plant science currently located on the campus of Cornell University in Ithaca, New York...
, of which he was dean and chief advisor. He died in Yonkers in 1928.
His works include:
- Synopsis of the Flora of Colorado (1874), with Thomas Porter and Ferdinand Vandeveer HaydenFerdinand Vandeveer HaydenDr. Ferdinand Vandeveer Hayden was an American geologist noted for his pioneering surveying expeditions of the Rocky Mountains in the late 19th century. He was also a physician who served with the Union Army during the Civil War.-Early life:Ferdinand Hayden was born in Westfield, Massachusetts...
- Manual of Rocky Mountain Botany (1885; revised, 1909)
- Manual of Texan Botany (1892–93)
- Plant Relations (1899; third revision, 1910)
- Plant Structures (1899; second edition, 1904)
- Morphology of Spermatophytes (1901)
- Morphology of Angiosperms (1903), with C. J. ChamberlainCharles Joseph ChamberlainCharles Joseph Chamberlain, Ph. D. was an American botanist, born near Sullivan, Ohio, and educated at Oberlin College and at the University of Chicago, where he earned the first Ph. D. in that institution's botany department, and where he was a long-time employee, becoming associate professor in...
- Plant Studies (1902; revised 1905)
- A Text-Book of Botany for Colleges and Universities(two volumes, 1910–11)
- Elementary Studies in Botany (1913)
- Plant Breeding (1914)