Elmar Emil Leppik, earlier Lepik (1898–1978) was an

Estonia Estonia, officially the Republic of Estonia, is a country in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, and to the east by Ru ...

mycologist Mycology is the branch of biology concerned with the study of fungi, including their taxonomy, genetics, biochemical properties, and use by humans. Fungi can be a source of tinder, food, traditional medicine, as well as entheogens, poison, and ...

and

theoretical biologist Mathematical and theoretical biology, or biomathematics, is a branch of biology which employs theoretical analysis, mathematical models and abstractions of living organisms to investigate the principles that govern the structure, development a ...

. He established a mycological

herbarium A herbarium (plural: herbaria) is a collection of preserved plant biological specimen, specimens and associated data used for scientific study. The specimens may be whole plants or plant parts; these will usually be in dried form mounted on a sh ...

and library at the

University of Tartu The University of Tartu (UT; ; ) is a public research university located in the city of Tartu, Estonia. It is the national university of Estonia. It is also the largest and oldest university in the country.

. His birth date in 1898 has been given variously as 3 or 4 October or as 3 December, he died 4 November 1978 in Maryland. Leppik, the son of a farmer, was born in

Jõgeva Parish Jõgeva Parish () is a rural Municipalities of Estonia, municipality of Estonia, in Jõgeva County. It has a population of 12,413 (2024) and an area of 458 km2 (177 mi2). Populated places ;Towns: Jõgeva (administrative center) ;Sma ...

, a rural municipality of Estonia north of

Tartu Tartu is the second largest city in Estonia after Tallinn. Tartu has a population of 97,759 (as of 2024). It is southeast of Tallinn and 245 kilometres (152 miles) northeast of Riga, Latvia. Tartu lies on the Emajõgi river, which connects the ...

. During his student years, he was interested in both

mycology Mycology is the branch of biology concerned with the study of fungus, fungi, including their Taxonomy (biology), taxonomy, genetics, biochemistry, biochemical properties, and ethnomycology, use by humans. Fungi can be a source of tinder, Edible ...

and algology. Following graduation, Leppik was a

fellow A fellow is a title and form of address for distinguished, learned, or skilled individuals in academia, medicine, research, and industry. The exact meaning of the term differs in each field. In learned society, learned or professional society, p ...

at the Rockefeller Foundation and later the University of Tartu. Among his instructors were the prominent mycologists Eduard Fischer and

Ernst Albert Gäumann Ernst Albert Gäumann (6 October 1893 – 5 December 1963) was a Swiss botanist and mycologist who made contributions to plant pathology. As professor and director of the Institute for Special Botany at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology ...

. He earned his PhD in 1928 in

Zürich Zurich (; ) is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich. , the municipality had 448,664 inhabitants. The ...

before returning to Estonia to work at the University of Tartu. There, he was employed first as Acting Assistant Professor (1929–1931), then Assistant Professor (1931–1938), Professor Extraordinary (1938–1942), and finally

Professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other tertiary education, post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin ...

(1942–1944). Between 1932 and 1940 he edited and distributed the

exsiccata Exsiccata (Latin, ''gen.'' -ae, ''plur.'' -ae) is a work with "published, uniform, numbered set of preserved specimens distributed with printed labels". Typically, exsiccatae are numbered collections of dried herbarium Biological specimen, spe ...

work ''Fungi Estonici exsiccati''. In 1950 he moved to the United States, where he taught for the first seven years at the

Augustana University Augustana University is a private Lutheran university in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. The university identifies 1860 as the year of its founding, the same as its Rock Island, Illinois, Swedish-heritage sister school, Augustana College. It deri ...

South Dakota South Dakota (; Sioux language, Sioux: , ) is a U.S. state, state in the West North Central states, North Central region of the United States. It is also part of the Great Plains. South Dakota is named after the Dakota people, Dakota Sioux ...

and worked as a research scientist at the

Hormel Institute The Hormel Institute is a biomedical research center located in Austin, Minnesota, United States. Founded in 1942, the institute is a division of the University of Minnesota with scientists focusing primarily on cancer research. The Hormel Institu ...

at the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota Twin Cities (historically known as University of Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint ...

. In 1964 he moved to Beltsville,

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It borders the states of Virginia to its south, West Virginia to its west, Pennsylvania to its north, and Delaware to its east ...

, where he would stay for the rest of his life. His interests during this time shifted towards the

phylogeny A phylogenetic tree or phylogeny is a graphical representation which shows the evolutionary history between a set of species or Taxon, taxa during a specific time.Felsenstein J. (2004). ''Inferring Phylogenies'' Sinauer Associates: Sunderland, M ...

of flowering plants and fungi, evolutionary classification of flower species, plant

coevolution In biology, coevolution occurs when two or more species reciprocally affect each other's evolution through the process of natural selection. The term sometimes is used for two traits in the same species affecting each other's evolution, as well a ...

, insect pollination, and bee biology.

Selected works

(important publications) *Lepik E., 1941. "Einige Fragmente aus der geschichtlichen Entwicklung der ostbaltischen Pilzflora". ''Tartu R. Ülikooli juures oleva Loodusuurijate Seltsi aruanded'' (Annales societatis rebus naturae investigandis in Universitate Tartuensi constitutae) 47(1/2): 81–145. *Leppik E., 1955. "Some viewpoints on the origin and evolution of flowering plants". ''Acta Biotheoretica'' 9(2): 45–56. *Leppik E., 1956. "The form and function of numerical patterns in flowers". ''American Journal of Botany'' 43: 445–455. *Leppik, E. E., 1957. "Hologeny, a complementary concept of phylogeny". ''Annales Societatis Tartuensis ad Res Naturae Investigandas Constitutae'' (series nova in excilio condita) 1: 41–51. *Leppik E., 1970. "Phylogeny, hologeny and coenogeny, basic concepts of environmental biology". ''Acta Biotheoretica'' 23(3-4): 170–193.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Leppik, Elmar 1898 births 1978 deaths People from Jõgeva Parish People from Kreis Dorpat Estonian mycologists University of Tartu alumni Academic staff of the University of Tartu

Selected works

See also

References