Merritt Lyndon Fernald (October 5, 1873 - September 22, 1950) was an
AmericanThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
botanist. In his time he was regarded as the most respected scholar of the
taxonomyTaxonomy is the practice and science of classification. The word finds its roots in the Greek , taxis and , nomos...
and phytogeography of the
vascular plantVascular plants are those plants that have lignified tissues for conducting water, minerals, and photosynthetic products through the plant. Vascular plants include the ferns, clubmosses, flowering plants, conifers and other gymnosperms...
flora of temperate eastern
North AmericaNorth America is the northern continent of the Americas, situated in the Earth's northern hemisphere and in the western hemisphere. It is bordered on the north by the Arctic Ocean, on the east by the North Atlantic Ocean, on the southeast by the Caribbean Sea, and on the west by the North Pacific...
. He published more than 850 scientific papers and wrote and edited the seventh and eighth editions of
Gray's Manual of Botany. Fernald also wrote a book
Edible Wild Plants of Eastern North America in 1919-1920 with
Alfred KinseyAlfred Charles Kinsey was an American biologist and professor of entomology and zoology, who in 1947 founded the Institute for Research in Sex, Gender and Reproduction at Indiana University, now called the Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex, Gender, and Reproduction...
, published in 1943.
Fernald was born in
Orono, MaineOrono is a town in Penobscot County, Maine, United States. It was first settled in 1774 and named in honor of Chief Joseph Orono of the Penobscot Nation. It is home to The University of Maine. The population was 9,114 at the 2000 census.- Geography :...
, his father was Merritt Caldwell Fernald, a college professor at the University of Maine, and his mother was Mary Lovejoy Heywood.
Discussion
Ask a question about 'Merritt Lyndon Fernald' Start a new discussion about 'Merritt Lyndon Fernald' Answer questions from other users |
Merritt Lyndon Fernald (October 5, 1873 - September 22, 1950) was an
AmericanThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
botanist. In his time he was regarded as the most respected scholar of the
taxonomyTaxonomy is the practice and science of classification. The word finds its roots in the Greek , taxis and , nomos...
and phytogeography of the
vascular plantVascular plants are those plants that have lignified tissues for conducting water, minerals, and photosynthetic products through the plant. Vascular plants include the ferns, clubmosses, flowering plants, conifers and other gymnosperms...
flora of temperate eastern
North AmericaNorth America is the northern continent of the Americas, situated in the Earth's northern hemisphere and in the western hemisphere. It is bordered on the north by the Arctic Ocean, on the east by the North Atlantic Ocean, on the southeast by the Caribbean Sea, and on the west by the North Pacific...
. He published more than 850 scientific papers and wrote and edited the seventh and eighth editions of
Gray's Manual of Botany. Fernald also wrote a book
Edible Wild Plants of Eastern North America in 1919-1920 with
Alfred KinseyAlfred Charles Kinsey was an American biologist and professor of entomology and zoology, who in 1947 founded the Institute for Research in Sex, Gender and Reproduction at Indiana University, now called the Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex, Gender, and Reproduction...
, published in 1943.
Biography
Fernald was born in
Orono, MaineOrono is a town in Penobscot County, Maine, United States. It was first settled in 1774 and named in honor of Chief Joseph Orono of the Penobscot Nation. It is home to The University of Maine. The population was 9,114 at the 2000 census.- Geography :...
, his father was Merritt Caldwell Fernald, a college professor at the University of Maine, and his mother was Mary Lovejoy Heywood. He attended Orono High School, during high school he decided that he wanted to become a botanist, he collected plants around Orono and had two botanical papers published while still at high school. He attended Maine State College for a year, but at age 17 was invited to work as an assistant at the Gray Herbarium at
Harvard UniversityHarvard University is a private university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts and a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1636 by the colonial Massachusetts legislature, Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and currently comprises ten separate academic units...
. He began studying at Harvard in 1891 and graduated in 1897, then he joined the faculty as a teacher and also remained working at the Herbarium.
Other sources
- Stuckey, Ronald L. (2000), Fernald, Merritt Lyndon, In: American National Biography Online, Oxford University Press
Oxford house Press is the largest university press in the world. It is a department of the University of Oxford and is governed by a group of 15 academics appointed by the Vice-Chancellor known as the Delegates of the Press. they are headed by the Secretary to the Delegates, who serves as OUP's...
.