William Campbell Steere (1907–1989) 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 ...

known as an expert on

bryophyte Bryophytes () are a group of embryophyte, land plants (embryophytes), sometimes treated as a taxonomic Division (taxonomy), division referred to as Bryophyta ''Sensu#Common qualifiers, sensu lato'', that contains three groups of non-vascular pla ...

s, especially arctic and tropical American species.

Early life

Steere was born November 4, 1907, in

Muskegon, Michigan Muskegon ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Muskegon County, Michigan, United States. Situated around a harbor of Lake Michigan, Muskegon is known for fishing, sailing regattas, and boating. It is the most populous city along Lake Michigan' ...

to a family of Irish

Quakers Quakers are people who belong to the Religious Society of Friends, a historically Protestantism, Protestant Christian set of Christian denomination, denominations. Members refer to each other as Friends after in the Bible, and originally ...

. His paternal grandfather was

Joseph Beal Steere Joseph Beal Steere (9 February 1842 – 7 December 1940) was an American ornithologist. Life and career Steere was born in Rollin, Michigan, the son of William Millhouse and Elizabeth Cleghorn (Beal) Steere. He received a B.A. from the Univer ...

. Steere attended the

University of Michigan The University of Michigan (U-M, U of M, or Michigan) is a public university, public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest institution of higher education in the state. The University of Mi ...

, and earned his B.S. in botany with "high distinction". He briefly attended the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (Penn or UPenn) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. One of nine colonial colleges, it was chartered in 1755 through the efforts of f ...

where he studied cytology under William Randolph Taylor, while also working as an instructor at

Temple University Temple University (Temple or TU) is a public university, public Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related research university in Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. It was founded in 1884 by the Baptist ministe ...

. Steere was persuaded by Harley H. Bartlett to return to the

as an instructor. He earned his M.A. in 1931 and his Ph.D. from the university in 1932.

Career

Steere continued to teach botany at the University of Michigan. His research was focused on

bryology Bryology (from Greek , a moss, a liverwort) is the branch of botany concerned with the scientific study of bryophytes (mosses, liverworts, and hornworts). Bryologists are botanists who have an active interest in observing, recording, classifying ...

, and he taught courses in bryology and systematic biology with a focus on Michigan's Upper Peninsula. In 1932, he led a biological survey of the Yucatan. In 1935, he spent a year at the

University of Puerto Rico The University of Puerto Rico (Spanish language, Spanish: ''Universidad de Puerto Rico;'' often shortened to UPR) is the main List of state and territorial universities in the United States, public university system in the Commonwealth (U.S. i ...

as an exchange professor. Between 1942 and 1946, Steere led expeditions in

Latin America Latin America is the cultural region of the Americas where Romance languages are predominantly spoken, primarily Spanish language, Spanish and Portuguese language, Portuguese. Latin America is defined according to cultural identity, not geogr ...

searching for

Cinchona ''Cinchona'' (pronounced or ) is a genus of flowering plants in the family Rubiaceae containing at least 23 species of trees and shrubs. All are native to the Tropical Andes, tropical Andean forests of western South America. A few species are ...

and sources of

quinine Quinine is a medication used to treat malaria and babesiosis. This includes the treatment of malaria due to ''Plasmodium falciparum'' that is resistant to chloroquine when artesunate is not available. While sometimes used for nocturnal leg ...

, dubbed the

Cinchona Mission The Cinchona Missions (1942–1945) were a series of expeditions led by the United States to find natural sources of quinine in South America during World War II. Background Bark of species from the genus ''Cinchona'' produces the alkaloid quini ...

. He became a full professor at the University of Michigan in 1946 and Chair of the Botany Department in 1947. In 1948 and 1949, Steere studied effects of naturally occurring radioactivity on plant life at

Great Bear Lake Great Bear Lake (; ) in the boreal forest of Canada is the largest List of lakes of Canada, lake entirely in Canada (Lake Superior and Lake Huron are larger but straddle the Canada–United States border, Canada–US border), the fourth-larges ...

and in

Alaska Alaska ( ) is a non-contiguous U.S. state on the northwest extremity of North America. Part of the Western United States region, it is one of the two non-contiguous U.S. states, alongside Hawaii. Alaska is also considered to be the north ...

. He was the first bryologist to visit the northern slopes of the American Arctic Mountains. Steere, starting in 1950, spent eight years at

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

as professor and dean of the Graduate Division. Between 1954 and 1955, Steere took a sabbatical from Stanford and accepted a one-year position with 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 ...

as Program Director in Systematic Biology. He became involved with

Biological Abstracts Biological Abstracts is a database produced by Clarivate Analytics. It includes abstracts from peer-reviewed academic journal articles in the fields of biology, biochemistry, biotechnology, botany, pre-clinical and experimental medicine, pharmac ...

and

BIOSIS BIOSIS Previews is an English-language, bibliographic database service, with abstracts and citation indexing. It is part of ''Clarivate Analytics Web of Science'' suite. BIOSIS Previews indexes data from 1926 to the present. BIOSIS Previews i ...

. In 1958, Steere joined the

New York Botanical Garden The New York Botanical Garden (NYBG) is a botanical garden at Bronx Park in the Bronx, New York City. Established in 1891, it is located on a site that contains a landscape with over one million living plants; the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory, ...

as director. Steere assumed the title of Senior Scientist in 1973, before formally retiring from the Garden in 1977. In 1975 and 1976 he issued 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 ...

series ''Bryophyta Arctica exsiccata'' with Kjeld Axel Holmen and Gert Steen Mogensen as co-editors from Danmark.Triebel, D. & Scholz, P. 2001–2024 ''IndExs – Index of Exsiccatae''. Botanische Staatssammlung München: http://indexs.botanischestaatssammlung.de. – München, Germany. As President Emeritus, however, Steere continued his bryological research at the Garden until his death on February 7, 1989.

Legacy

Steere is commemorated in the names of the plant genera, mainly

liverwort Liverworts are a group of non-vascular land plants forming the division Marchantiophyta (). They may also be referred to as hepatics. Like mosses and hornworts, they have a gametophyte-dominant life cycle, in which cells of the plant carry ...

s; '' Steereocolea'' ( Balantiopsaceae), '' Steerea'' ( Jubulaceae), '' Steereobryon'' (

Polytrichaceae Polytrichaceae is a common family of mosses. Members of this family tend to be larger than other mosses, with the larger species occurring in particularly moist habitats. The leaves have specialized sheaths at the base and a midrib that bears pho ...

), '' Steerella'' (

Metzgeriaceae Metzgeriaceae is a family of thallose liverworts in the order Metzgeriales. Species may be either monoicous or dioicous. Genera As accepted by GBIF The Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) is an international organisation that foc ...

), ''Steereochila'' ( Plagiochilaceae, listed as doubtful genera), and ''Steereomitrium'' (

Haplomitriaceae Calobryales (formerly Haplomitriales) is an order of plants known as liverworts. This order contains one family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), aff ...

, listed as doubtful genera). He is the namesake of many species.William Campbell Steere (1907-1989). (1989). The Bryologist, 92(3), 414-419. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/3243414 The New York Botanical Garden bryophyte herbarium was named the William C. Steere Bryophyte Herbarium in 2000, and it contains over 600,000 specimens. The Garden has also established the William Campbell Steere Fund to help bryologists who wish to visit their herbarium and library. Mount Steere in Antarctica is named for him. Steere's son, William C. Steere Jr., was CEO of

Pfizer Pfizer Inc. ( ) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Pharmaceutical industry, pharmaceutical and biotechnology corporation headquartered at The Spiral (New York City), The Spiral in Manhattan, New York City. Founded in 184 ...

from 1991 to 2001, and chairman of the board emeritus from 2001 to 2011. He also served as vice chairman of the New York Botanical Garden's Board.

Awards

In 1970, Steere was the last recipient of the

Mary Soper Pope Memorial Award The Mary Soper Pope Memorial Award, informally known as the Mary Soper Pope Medal, was awarded by the Cranbrook Institute of Science of Detroit, Michigan, for notable achievement in plant sciences. It was inaugurated in 1946, and the last award wa ...

in botany."Cranbrook Institute of Science Director's Papers"
Cranbrook website. Retrieved Dec. 27, 2016. In 1972, he was awarded the

Order of the Sacred Treasure The is a Japanese Order (distinction), order, established on 4 January 1888 by Emperor Meiji as the Order of Meiji. Originally awarded in eight classes (from 8th to 1st, in ascending order of importance), since 2003 it has been awarded in six c ...

from

Emperor Hirohito , Posthumous name, posthumously honored as , was the 124th emperor of Japan according to the traditional order of succession, from 25 December 1926 until Death and state funeral of Hirohito, his death in 1989. He remains Japan's longest-reigni ...

for his work on the US-Japan Cooperative Science Program. In 1987, the

International Association of Bryologists The International Association of Bryologists (IAB), established in 1969, is a professional association promoting bryology (the study of mosses, liverworts and hornworts) globally for both amateurs and professionals. IAB was established in 1969 at ...

awarded him with the Hedwig Medal.

Selected publications

*Steere, William C. 1935. ''The Mosses of Yucatán''. Reprinted Lancaster Press, 14 pp. *Steere, William C. 1946. ''Cenozoic and Mesozoic Bryophytes of North America''. Ed. The University Press, 30 pp. *Steere, William C. 1947. ''The Bryophyte Flora of Michigan'', 24 pp. *Steere, William C.; Anderson, Lewis E.; Bryan, Virginia S. 1954. ''Chromosome Studies on California Mosses''. Vv. 20 & 24 from Memoirs of the Torrey Botanical Club, 74 pp. *Steere, William C. 1958. ''Fifty Years of Botany'', ed. W.C. Steere & McGraw-Hill, 638 pp. *Steere, William C. 1961. ''The Bryophytes of South Georgia''. Reprinted, 25 pp. *Steere, William C. 1964. ''Liverworts of Southern Michigan''. Bull. 17: Cranbrook Institute of Sci. 97 pp. *Steere, William C. 1976. ''Ecology, Phytogeography and Floristics of Arctic Alaskan Bryophytes''. Reprinted Hattori Bot. Lab. 26 pp. *Steere, William C. 1978. ''North American Muscology and Muscologists: A Brief History''. The Botanical Review 43 (3): 1-59 *Steere, William C; Brassard, Guy R. 1978. ''Bryophytorum bibliotheca, Studies in austral temperate rain forest bryophytes''. Bryophytorum bibliotheca 14, ed. ilustr. by J. Cramer, 508 pp.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Steere, William Campbell 1907 births 1989 deaths 20th-century American botanists University of Michigan College of Literature, Science, and the Arts alumni University of Michigan faculty Stanford University faculty American bryologists Botanists active in the Arctic