Name George Atkinson Role Botanist | Education Cornell University | |
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Born January 26, 1854 ( 1854-01-26 ) Raisinville, Michigan, United States Occupation Mycologist, botanist, entomologist, ornithologist, naturalist, photographer, writer Spouse(s) Elizabeth ("Lizzie") S. Kerr Children Francis Kerr Atkinson and Clara Packard Atkinson Parent(s) Joseph Atkinson and Josephine Fish Died November 14, 1918, Tacoma, Washington, United States Books Studies of American Fungi: Mu, Studies of American Fungi Mu, Relation Of Plants To Environm, Botany for High Schools, Elementary botany | ||
George Francis Atkinson (26 January 1854 – 14 November 1918) was an American botanist and mycologist.
He was born January 26, 1854 in Raisinville, Michigan and died on 14 November 1918. He was the son of Joseph and Josephine Atkinson (née Fish). He studied at Olivet College from 1878 to 1883 and obtained his bachelor's degree from Cornell University in 1885. He is best known for his contributions to the fields of mycology and botany.
Career
He was assistant professor of entomology and zoology from 1885 to 1886, and associate professor in 1886 to 1888 at the University of North Carolina. He was a professor of botany and zoology at the University of South Carolina from 1888 to 1889 and a botanist at the Experiment Station of the University. From 1889 to 1892 he taught biology at the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Alabama; from 1892 to 1893 he was assistant professor of cryptogamic botany at Cornell University, then associate professor (1893–1896), and from 1896, Chairman of the Botany Department. He was President of the Botanical Society of America in 1907, and was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in the Spring of 1918. His herbarium of fungus specimens are stored at the Cornell Plant Pathology Herbarium (CUP).
Atkinson died from influenza and pneumonia on November 14, 1918.