Henrietta Edgecomb Hooker (December 12, 1851 – May 13, 1929) 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 ...

and professor at Mount Holyoke Female Seminary (now

Mount Holyoke College Mount Holyoke College is a Private college, private Women's colleges in the United States, women's Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in South Hadley, Massachusetts, United States. It is the oldest member of the h ...

). She was the second female doctoral graduate in botany at

Syracuse University Syracuse University (informally 'Cuse or SU) is a Private university, private research university in Syracuse, New York, United States. It was established in 1870 with roots in the Methodist Episcopal Church but has been nonsectarian since 1920 ...

, which made her one of the first women to earn a Ph.D. in botany from any U.S. university.

Early life and education

Hooker was born to Eliza Annie Hooker and George Washington Hooker in 1851, and was orphaned at the age of seven. In 1867, at age sixteen, she began working at a New England cotton factory, but after a week of employment there, she sought help in finding a different job. Hooker taught in Vermont public schools from 1869 to 1870, and at the Academy of West Charleston from 1870 to 1871. Hooker entered Mount Holyoke Female Seminary in 1871 and graduated in 1873. She did graduate work at

MIT The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1861, MIT has played a significant role in the development of many areas of modern technology and sc ...

, and the universities of Syracuse, Berlin, and Chicago. She earned a Ph.D. from

in 1889 with a dissertation on the vine ''

Cuscuta gronovii ''Cuscuta gronovii'' is a yellow vine that grows as a parasite off other plants. It is a dicot. Description ''Cuscuta gronovii'' belongs to the family Convolvuaceae, including the morning glories, comprising about 200 species. It is a parasit ...

''. Hooker was among the first women to earn a Ph.D. in botany in the United States.

Career

After her graduation in 1873, Hooker joined Mount Holyoke as a faculty member, working alongside her former teacher Lydia Shattuck and

zoologist Zoology ( , ) is the scientific study of animals. Its studies include the structure, embryology, classification, habits, and distribution of all animals, both living and extinct, and how they interact with their ecosystems. Zoology is one ...

Cornelia Clapp Cornelia Maria Clapp (March 17, 1849 – December 31, 1934) was an American educator and zoologist, specializing in marine biology. She earned the first Ph.D. in biology awarded to a woman in the United States from Syracuse University in 1889, ...

. In 1899, she was one of two teachers with a Ph.D. at Mount Holyoke (the other being Clapp, the first woman in the United States to be awarded that degree in biology). Hooker taught at Mount Holyoke for thirty-five years. As the chair of the botany department, she advocated for expansion of the curriculum into newer branches of the field and for improvements to laboratory space and equipment. Her research focused on the

morphology Morphology, from the Greek and meaning "study of shape", may refer to: Disciplines *Morphology (archaeology), study of the shapes or forms of artifacts *Morphology (astronomy), study of the shape of astronomical objects such as nebulae, galaxies, ...

and

embryology Embryology (from Ancient Greek, Greek ἔμβρυον, ''embryon'', "the unborn, embryo"; and -λογία, ''-logy, -logia'') is the branch of animal biology that studies the Prenatal development (biology), prenatal development of gametes (sex ...

Cuscuta ''Cuscuta'' (), commonly known as dodder or amarbel, is a genus of over 201 species of yellow, orange, or red (rarely green) parasitic plants. Formerly treated as the only genus in the family Cuscutaceae, it now is accepted as belonging in the ...

, a genus of

parasitic plant A parasitic plant is a plant that derives some or all of its nutritional requirements from another living plant. They make up about 1% of angiosperms and are found in almost every biome. All Parasite, parasitic plants develop a specialized organ ...

s. Hooker's commitment to Mount Holyoke extended beyond her retirement in 1908. She bred prize-winning Buff Orpington chickens and donated the winnings to the school. Mount Holyoke awarded her an honorary Sc.D in 1923, and Hooker Auditorium is named in her honor.

Works

* * *

References

External links

Hooker papers, 1873-1942 (bulk 1884-1927)
Mount Holyoke College Archives & Special Collections
The Photographs of Asa Kinney
includes a portrait of Henrietta Hooker and many photographs of her chickens. * {{DEFAULTSORT:Hooker, Henrietta 1851 births 1929 deaths American women botanists Syracuse University alumni Mount Holyoke College alumni Mount Holyoke College faculty People from Gardiner, Maine Scientists from Maine 19th-century American botanists 19th-century American women scientists 20th-century American botanists 20th-century American women scientists