Emma Lewis Lipps (8 February 1919 - 19 July 1996) was an American

botanist Botany, also called plant science, is the branch of natural science and biology studying plants, especially Plant anatomy, their anatomy, Plant taxonomy, taxonomy, and Plant ecology, ecology. A botanist or plant scientist is a scientist who s ...

, botany collector, and a professor of

biology Biology is the scientific study of life and living organisms. It is a broad natural science that encompasses a wide range of fields and unifying principles that explain the structure, function, growth, History of life, origin, evolution, and ...

and

Earth science Earth science or geoscience includes all fields of natural science related to the planet Earth. This is a branch of science dealing with the physical, chemical, and biological complex constitutions and synergistic linkages of Earth's four spheres ...

at Shorter College,

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

. Her work was primarily focused on discovering and studying the

Pleistocene The Pleistocene ( ; referred to colloquially as the ''ice age, Ice Age'') is the geological epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was fin ...

vertebrates' specimens from the Marshall Forest in Floyd County and the Ladd's Quarry in

Bartow County Bartow County is in the Northwest region of the U.S. state of Georgia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 108,901, up from 100,157 in 2010. The county seat is Cartersville. Traditionally considered part of northwest Georgia, Bartow Co ...

. She co-authored several papers and bibliographies about her findings, including ''The vascular flora of the Marshall Forest, Rome, Georgia'' and ''A Devonian fauna from the Frog Mountain Sandstone, Floyd County, Georgia.''

Early life and education

Lipps was born on 8 February 1919 in

Alexandria, Virginia Alexandria is an independent city (United States), independent city in Northern Virginia, United States. It lies on the western bank of the Potomac River approximately south of Washington, D.C., D.C. The city's population of 159,467 at the 2020 ...

, to William Lewis Lipps and Emma Ashton Truslow Lipps. She completed her bachelors studies from

Wesleyan College Wesleyan College is a Private university, private, Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts Women's Colleges in the Southern United States, women's college in Macon, Georgia, United States. Founded in 1836, Wesleyan was the fi ...

in 1940 and master's degree from

Emory University Emory University is a private university, private research university in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. It was founded in 1836 as Emory College by the Methodist Episcopal Church and named in honor of Methodist bishop John Emory. Its main campu ...

in 1943. She graduated with a PhD in botany from the

University of Tennessee The University of Tennessee, Knoxville (or The University of Tennessee; UT; UT Knoxville; or colloquially UTK or Tennessee) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Knoxville, Tennessee, United St ...

in 1966. Her dissertation was titled ''Plant communities of a portion of Floyd County, Georgia-especially the Marshall Forest''.

Career

Lipps began working at the University of Georgia School of Medicine in 1940, immediately after her graduation from Wesleyan. In 1943, during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, she began teaching at the

Agnes Scott College Agnes Scott College is a Private university, private Women's Colleges in the Southern United States, women's Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Decatur, Georgia. The college enrolls approximately 1,000 undergra ...

. She then joined the Shorter College (present-day Shorter University) as a teacher in the biology department in 1945 where she stayed for 44 years until her retirement in 1989. During her tenure at the Shorter University, Lipps and her students used the Marshall Forest as their natural lab for biological studies. The National Council of State Garden Clubs honored her 25 years of work in the Marshall Forest in 1979. Lipps worked on several

paleontological Paleontology, also spelled as palaeontology or palæontology, is the scientific study of the life of the past, mainly but not exclusively through the study of fossils. Paleontologists use fossils as a means to classify organisms, measure geolo ...

projects in Georgia, primarily at the Ladd's Quarry for excavations, discovery and studies of the Pleistocene vertebrae. She involved her students from the Shorter College to work on these projects resulting in a number of

Devonian The Devonian ( ) is a period (geology), geologic period and system (stratigraphy), system of the Paleozoic era (geology), era during the Phanerozoic eon (geology), eon, spanning 60.3 million years from the end of the preceding Silurian per ...

flora and fauna samples and fossils delivered to the Smithsonian. During this time, she co-authored a seminal paper with Clayton Ray in 1966, followed by a study with Al Holman in 1980s, and an annotated bibliography with Bob Purdy and Bob Martin in 1988. Shorter University established the Lewis Lipps Ecology Lectureship in 1991 to discuss modern

ecological issues Environmental issues are disruptions in the usual function of ecosystems. Further, these issues can be caused by humans (human impact on the environment) or they can be natural. These issues are considered serious when the ecosystem cannot recov ...

. The inaugural lecture was given by Lipps' dissertation advisor, Dr. Hal R. De Selm.

Publications

* Lipps, E. L. (1949). ''Investigation of the effect of niacin on populations of the Mainx strain Euglena gracilis Klebs.'' (Doctoral dissertation, Emory University). * Lipps, E.L. (1966). ''Plant communities of a portion of Flloyd County, Georgia — Especially the Marshall Forest''. Doctoral Thesis, University of Tennessee. * Lipps, E. L. and H. R. De Selm. (1969). ''The vascular flora of the Marshall Forest, Rome, Georgia''. Castanea 34 (4): 414–432. * Lipps, E. L., Purdy, R. W., & Martin, R. A. (1988). ''An annotated bibliography of the Pleistocene vertebrates of Georgia.'' ''Georgia Journal of Science'', ''25'', 113–119.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lipps, Emma Lewis 1919 births 1996 deaths Scientists from Alexandria, Virginia 20th-century American botanists American women botanists Wesleyan College alumni Emory University alumni University of Georgia faculty 20th-century American women scientists