Nationality American Name Annette Braun Alma mater University of Cincinnati | Known for work on moths Died 1978 | |
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Born August 24, 1884
Cincinnati, Ohio ( 1884-08-24 ) Other names Annette F. Braun, Annette Braun | ||
Annette Frances Braun (1884–1978) was an American entomologist and leading authority on microlepidoptera, the order that includes the smaller butterflies and moths.
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Early life and education
Annette Frances Braun was born on August 24, 1884, to George F. and Emma Maria (Wright) Braun in Cincinnati, Ohio. She got her education at the University of Cincinnati, receiving her A.B. in 1906, her A.M. in 1908, and her Ph.D. in 1911, making her the first woman to earn a Ph.D. from the University of Cincinnati; her younger sister Emma Lucy Braun would be the second.
Career
Braun began her career as a zoology teaching assistant at the University of Cincinnati (1911–19) before turning to private research. She developed expertise in the moths of the eastern North American forests, becoming an international authority who has been described as one of the most accomplished lepidopterists of the 20th century. She described and named over 340 species in her lifetime and published four major monographs and dozens of papers on moths. A skilled artist with pen and ink, she often illustrated her work with detailed anatomical drawings made from her own field observations and microscope studies.
Braun lived in Mount Washington, a suburb of Cincinnati, Ohio, with her sister Emma, who was a noted botanist. Part of their garden was used as an outdoor entomological and botanical laboratory, and the sisters often took field trips together as well. Starting in the 1910s, they walked (and later drove) hundreds of miles through the forests of eastern North America—especially Ohio, Kentucky, and Tennessee—in search of plant and moth specimens. The were also dedicated conservationists, and Braun is remembered for her efforts to preserve natural areas in Adams County, Ohio.
Braun served as vice-president of the Entomological Society of America (1926). She was also a trustee of the Cincinnati Museum of Natural History.
Braun continued working and publishing into her eighties. She died on November 27, 1978, at the age of 94.
Legacy
Species named after Braun include Argyresthia annettella and Glyphipterix brauni.
"Annette's Rock" is a trailside landmark named after Braun on the Lynx Prairie nature reserve in Ohio.
The Smithsonian Institution holds an archive of Braun's papers (including some 5000 slides), while the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia houses her collection of 30,000 moth specimens.