Marie Clark Taylor (February 16, 1911 – December 28, 1990) 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 ...

, the first woman to earn a science doctorate at

Fordham University Fordham University is a Private university, private Society of Jesus, Jesuit research university in New York City, United States. Established in 1841, it is named after the Fordham, Bronx, Fordham neighborhood of the Bronx in which its origina ...

, and the Head of the Botany Department at

Howard University Howard University is a private, historically black, federally chartered research university in Washington, D.C., United States. It is classified among "R1: Doctoral Universities – Very high research activity" and accredited by the Mid ...

from 1947 to her retirement in 1976. Her research interest was plant

photomorphogenesis In developmental biology, photomorphogenesis is light-mediated development, where plant growth patterns respond to the light spectrum. This is a completely separate process from photosynthesis where light is used as a source of energy. Phytochromes, ...

Early life and education

Taylor was born in Sharpsburg, Pennsylvania, on February 16, 1911. After graduating from Dunbar High School in Washington D.C. in 1929, she earned her B.S. (1933) and M.S. (1935, Botany) at

, and in 1941, her Ph.D. at

, being the first woman of any race to earn a science doctorate at Fordham. For her dissertation, she studied ''The influence of definite photoperiods upon the growth and development of initiated floral primordia''.

Career

She taught at Cardozo High School in the late 1930s and early 1940s, and later started summer science institutes for high school science teachers, introducing new methods for teaching science, such as using light-microscopes to study cells. After serving in the Army Red Cross in New Guinea during World War II, she joined the Botany Department at

in 1945. She succeeded Charles Stewart Parker as Chair of the Botany Department in 1947 at Howard University, a position she held until her retirement in 1976. During her tenure, the department expanded, and Taylor was involved in the design and construction of a new biology building on the Howard University campus. On January 1, 1948, she married Richard Taylor, whom she had met while they were both serving in New Guinea. They had one child, a son, born in 1950. Taylor also taught a summer science series for the

National Science Foundation The U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) is an Independent agencies of the United States government#Examples of independent agencies, independent agency of the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government that su ...

designed for biology teachers to make use of botanical materials for their courses to illustrate cell life. These summer classes also developed her teaching methods, where she also emphasized microscopes to study living cells. During the mid-1960s, she was requested by President

Lyndon B. Johnson Lyndon Baines Johnson (; August 27, 1908January 22, 1973), also known as LBJ, was the 36th president of the United States, serving from 1963 to 1969. He became president after the assassination of John F. Kennedy, under whom he had served a ...

to expand her work overseas, bringing her teaching style to an international level. After her death, an auditorium in the Ernest E. Just Hall at Howard University was named in her honor. Taylor died on December 28, 1990, at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Taylor, Marie Clark 20th-century African-American scientists 1911 births 1990 deaths African-American women scientists 20th-century American educators American women botanists 20th-century American botanists Howard University faculty Fordham University alumni Howard University alumni 20th-century American women scientists 20th-century American women educators 20th-century African-American women 20th-century African-American educators 20th-century American women academics