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Katherine Esau (3 April 1898 – 4 June 1997) was a German-American
botanist Botany, also called , plant biology or phytology, is the science of plant life and a branch of biology. A botanist, plant scientist or phytologist is a scientist who specialises in this field. The term "botany" comes from the Ancient Greek wo ...
who received the
National Medal of Science The National Medal of Science is an honor bestowed by the President of the United States to individuals in science and engineering who have made important contributions to the advancement of knowledge in the fields of behavioral and social scienc ...
for her work on
plant anatomy Plant anatomy or phytotomy is the general term for the study of the internal structure of plants. Originally it included plant morphology, the description of the physical form and external structure of plants, but since the mid-20th century plan ...
.


Personal life and education

Esau was born on 3 April 1898 in Yekaterinoslav,
Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War ...
(''now
Dnipro Dnipro, previously called Dnipropetrovsk from 1926 until May 2016, is Ukraine's fourth-largest city, with about one million inhabitants. It is located in the eastern part of Ukraine, southeast of the Ukrainian capital Kyiv on the Dnieper Rive ...
, Ukraine'') to a family of
Mennonites Mennonites are groups of Anabaptist Christian church communities of denominations. The name is derived from the founder of the movement, Menno Simons (1496–1561) of Friesland. Through his writings about Reformed Christianity during the Radic ...
of German descent, so-called "
Russian Mennonites The Russian Mennonites (german: Russlandmennoniten it. "Russia Mennonites", i.e., Mennonites of or from the Russian Empire occasionally Ukrainian Mennonites) are a group of Mennonites who are descendants of Dutch Anabaptists who settled for ab ...
". She began studying agriculture in
Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...
, but after a year her family was prompted by the
Bolshevik Revolution The October Revolution,. officially known as the Great October Socialist Revolution. in the Soviet Union, also known as the Bolshevik Revolution, was a revolution in Russia led by the Bolshevik Party of Vladimir Lenin that was a key mom ...
to move to Germany where she completed her studies at the Agricultural College of Berlin. This had provided training in plant breeding. The Esau family moved to
California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...
in 1922, where Esau worked for the
Spreckels Sugar Company The Spreckels Sugar Company is an American sugar beet refiner that for many years controlled much of the U.S. West Coast refined sugar market. It is currently headquartered in Brawley, California. History The Spreckels Sugar Company was founded b ...
on
sugar beet A sugar beet is a plant whose root contains a high concentration of sucrose and which is grown commercially for sugar production. In plant breeding, it is known as the Altissima cultivar group of the common beet ('' Beta vulgaris''). Together ...
resistance to curly top virus. From 1927 Esau was employed as a graduate assistant in the Botany Division and resumed her education at the
University of California, Davis The University of California, Davis (UC Davis, UCD, or Davis) is a public land-grant research university near Davis, California. Named a Public Ivy, it is the northernmost of the ten campuses of the University of California system. The inst ...
, through registering for a PhD degree at University of California Berkeley in 1928 (Davis did not have a graduate school at this time). Her doctoral committee were W.W. Robbins, (botanist and the chair), T.H. Goodspeed, cytologist, and T.E. Rawlins, plant pathologist. She was formally awarded a doctorate in 1931 which was granted by UC Berkeley in 1932. She was also elected to the
Phi Beta Kappa The Phi Beta Kappa Society () is the oldest academic honor society in the United States, and the most prestigious, due in part to its long history and academic selectivity. Phi Beta Kappa aims to promote and advocate excellence in the liberal ...
honor society in 1932. Esau then joined the faculty in the new post of Junior Botanist in the Experimental Station of the College of Agriculture, and remained until her retirement at age 67. Esau died on 4 June 1997 in
Santa Barbara, California Santa Barbara ( es, Santa Bárbara, meaning " Saint Barbara") is a coastal city in Santa Barbara County, California, of which it is also the county seat. Situated on a south-facing section of coastline, the longest such section on the West ...
, USA.


Career

Esau was a pioneering plant anatomist and her books ''Plant Anatomy'' (1953) and ''Anatomy of Seed Plants'' (1960) were key plant structural biology texts for four decades. Her early work in plant anatomy focused on the effect of
viruses A virus is a submicroscopic infectious agent that replicates only inside the living cells of an organism. Viruses infect all life forms, from animals and plants to microorganisms, including bacteria and archaea. Since Dmitri Ivanovsky's ...
on plants, specifically on plant tissue and development. Her doctoral research had changed from field to laboratory study of curly top virus disease of sugar beet because of the difficulty of containing field infections with the disease. This led to her focus on plant anatomy and especially
phloem Phloem (, ) is the living tissue in vascular plants that transports the soluble organic compounds made during photosynthesis and known as ''photosynthates'', in particular the sugar sucrose, to the rest of the plant. This transport process is c ...
tissue that was the subject of her scientific career. She soon discovered that the virus spread through the plants along the phloem. She began applying
electron microscopy An electron microscope is a microscope that uses a beam of accelerated electrons as a source of illumination. As the wavelength of an electron can be up to 100,000 times shorter than that of visible light photons, electron microscopes have a hi ...
to her research in 1960. Esau worked at the
University of California, Davis The University of California, Davis (UC Davis, UCD, or Davis) is a public land-grant research university near Davis, California. Named a Public Ivy, it is the northernmost of the ten campuses of the University of California system. The inst ...
and eventually became a full professor of botany. While teaching, she continued her research on viruses and specifically
phloem Phloem (, ) is the living tissue in vascular plants that transports the soluble organic compounds made during photosynthesis and known as ''photosynthates'', in particular the sugar sucrose, to the rest of the plant. This transport process is c ...
, the food conducting tissue in plants. In the 1950s, she collaborated with botanist
Vernon Cheadle Vernon Irvin Cheadle (February 6, 1910 – July 23, 1995) was an American botanist, educator and university administrator. He served as the second chancellor of the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB) from 1962 until 1977. He was bo ...
on more phloem research. Her treatise ''The Phloem'' (1969) was published as Volume 5 of the ''Handbuch der Pflanzenanatomie''. This volume has been recognized as the most important of the series and was a definitive source of information about phloem. Ray Evert, one of Esau's graduate students, says: "The book ''Plant Anatomy'' brought to life what previously had seemed to me to be a rather dull subject. I was not the only one so affected. ''Plant Anatomy'' had an enormous impact worldwide, literally bringing about a revivification of the discipline." However, Esau was unaffected by the recognition accorded her, and she told David Russell, who compiled her oral history, "I don't know how I happened to be elected or the National Medal of Science I have no idea what impressed them about me." She was official mentor to only 15 doctoral students but her exceptional ability as a teacher was recognised and appreciated by many. In 1963, she was promoted to full professor at Davis. After retiring from the University of California, Davis, she moved to the
University of California, Santa Barbara The University of California, Santa Barbara (UC Santa Barbara or UCSB) is a public land-grant research university in Santa Barbara, California with 23,196 undergraduates and 2,983 graduate students enrolled in 2021–2022. It is part of the U ...
in 1965 where Cheadle was now Chancellor, and continued research well into her 90s, publishing a total of 162 articles and five books. When asked by Elga Wasserman to reflect on her education and career, Esau wrote in 1973 that scientific activities dominated her career and added, "I found ways of maintaining spiritual independence while adjusting myself to established policies. . . . I have never felt that my career was being affected by the fact that I am a woman." In addition that, after being asked in 1992 if she saw herself as a pioneer woman in science, Esau replied, "This is such a funny thing. I never worried about being a woman. It never occurred to me that that was an important thing. I always thought that women could do just as well as men. Of course, the majority of women are not trained to think that way. They are trained to be homemakers. And I was not a homemaker."


Recognition

*She was elected a Fellow of the
American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (abbreviation: AAA&S) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, a ...
in 1949. *In 1951, she was President of the
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 soc ...
. *In 1956, the Botanical Society of America awarded her a Certificate of Merit in its Golden Jubilee celebrations. *In 1957, she was the sixth woman elected as a member of the
National Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the Nat ...
. *In 1962, she was awarded an honorary degree by Mills College, Oakland. *In 1964, she was elected to the
American Philosophical Society The American Philosophical Society (APS), founded in 1743 in Philadelphia, is a scholarly organization that promotes knowledge in the sciences and humanities through research, professional meetings, publications, library resources, and communit ...
. *In 1989 President George Bush awarded Esau the
National Medal of Science The National Medal of Science is an honor bestowed by the President of the United States to individuals in science and engineering who have made important contributions to the advancement of knowledge in the fields of behavioral and social scienc ...
.


Legacy

Many of Esau's publications are housed and available for loan from the Cornelius Herman Muller library at the
University of California, Santa Barbara The University of California, Santa Barbara (UC Santa Barbara or UCSB) is a public land-grant research university in Santa Barbara, California with 23,196 undergraduates and 2,983 graduate students enrolled in 2021–2022. It is part of the U ...
's Cheadle Center for Biodiversity and Ecological Restoration. In memory of her contributions as a lecturer, author and scientist, the ''Katherine Esau Award'' is awarded to the graduate student who presents the best paper in structural and
developmental biology Developmental biology is the study of the process by which animals and plants grow and develop. Developmental biology also encompasses the biology of regeneration, asexual reproduction, metamorphosis, and the growth and differentiation of st ...
at the annual meeting of the
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 soc ...
. Esau established the Katherine Esau Fellowship Program in 1993 at the University of California, Davis. This supports post-doctoral, junior faculty and some summer graduate fellowships.


Works

Her books modernised plant anatomy teaching and were in use into the twenty-first century: * Esau, Katherine (1953). ''Plant Anatomy''. (1st ed. 1954; 2nd ed. 1965; 3rd ed. 2006). McGraw-Hill, New York. * Esau, Katherine (1960). ''Anatomy of Seed Plants''. (2nd ed. 1977). John Wiley & Sons, New York, * Esau, Katherine (1961). ''Plants, Viruses, and Insects''. Harvard University Press, Cambridge. * Esau, Katherine (1965). ''Vascular Differentiation in Plants''. Holt, Rinehart & Winston, 160pp * Esau, Katherine (1968). ''Viruses in Plant Hosts''. University of Wisconsin Press, Madison 228pp * Esau, Katherine (1969). ''The Phloem''. (Handbuch der Pflanzenanatomie, Histologie Band 5, Teil 2). Gebrüder Borntraeger, Berlin.


Notes


Further reading

* Evert, Ray F., Eichhorn, Susan E., ''Esau's Plant Anatomy: Meristems, Cells, and Tissues of the Plant Body: Their Structure, Function, and Development'', John Wiley & Sons, 3rd ed. (2006), * O'Hern, Elizabeth Moot (1985) "Katherine Esau" ''Profiles of Pioneer Women Scientists'' Acropolis Books, Washington, D.C. * Stebbins, G.L. 1999
Katherine Esau (3 April 1898 – 4 June 1997)
Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, Vol. 143 * Pigg, K.B. 2007. Katherine Esau. in New Dictionary of Scientific Biography, N. Koertge ed. vol 2: 413–416, MacMillan, New York.


External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Esau, Katherine 1898 births 1997 deaths American women botanists National Medal of Science laureates Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences Botanical Society of America University of California, Davis faculty University of California, Davis alumni University of California, Santa Barbara faculty German emigrants to the United States Scientists from California 20th-century American botanists 20th-century American women scientists Members of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences Members of the American Philosophical Society