Charlotte Elliott (botanist)

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Charlotte Elliott
Born1883
Died1974
NationalityAmerican
Alma materStanford University; University of Wisconsin, Madison
Known forresearch on plant disease vectors
Scientific career
Fieldsbotany, plant physiology
InstitutionsUSDA
PatronsErwin Frink Smith
Author abbrev. (botany)C.Elliott

Charlotte Elliott (1883-1974) was a pioneering American plant physiologist specializing in bacterial organisms that cause disease in crops who was the author of a much-used reference work, the Manual of Bacterial Plant Pathogens.[1][2] She was the first woman to receive a Ph.D. in botany from the University of Wisconsin, Madison.[1][2]

Education[edit]

Elliott was born in Berlin, Wisconsin. She got her undergraduate degree in zoology at Stanford University in 1907. For a few years afterwards she taught biology at the state normal school in Spearfish and took summer courses at the University of Chicago.[3][4] She returned to Stanford for master's work in plant physiology, receiving her A.M. in 1913.[1] She was offered an appointment as assistant in the botany department but refused for reasons having to do with her family and instead returned to Wisconsin.[3]

In Wisconsin, she worked for two years (1914–16) as an instructor at South Dakota State College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts.[3][4] She left to pursue graduate work in plant pathology, first as a research assistant at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden and then as a Ph.D. student at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, where she was supported by a Boston Alumne Fellowship.[3][4] In 1918, she became the first woman to complete the doctoral program in botany at the University of Wisconsin, Madison.[1] Her thesis work focused on halo blight, a disease affecting oats.[1]

Career[edit]

Elliott was recruited by the bacteriologist Erwin Frink Smith to work in the Bureau of Plant Industry at the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA).[1] There she continued her research as a phytobacteriologist or specialist in the organisms harmful to plants, publishing numerous papers in her field.[1][2] Among her scientifically notable papers is one establishing the role of the flea beetle as a vector in the development of the disease known as Stewart's wilt in corn (maize).[1] This research led to a method for forecasting how bad the disease would be in any given year based on temperature indexes that reflected how successfully the beetles had survived the preceding winter.[1] Her work also led to the description of several new species.[2]

Elliott wrote a widely used book, Manual of Bacterial Plant Pathogens, first published in 1930, reissued with revisions in 1951, and still being drawn on by researchers today.[1][2][5]

In 1942, she served as the president of the Botanical Society of Washington.[6]

Elliott died in 1974.

Selected publications[edit]

Books[edit]

  • Manual of Bacterial Plant Pathogens (1930)
  • Halo-Blight of Oats (1920)

Articles[edit]

  • "Helminthosporium-Turcicum Leaf Blight of Corn". Phytopathology 36.8 (1946): 660–666. With Merle T. Jenkins.
  • "Seasonal Development, Insect Vectors, and Host Range of Bacterial Wilt of Sweet Corn." Journal of Agricultural Research 60.10 (1940): 645–686. With F.W. Poos.
  • "Dissemination of Bacterial Wilt of Corn." Iowa State College Journal of Science 9 (1935): 461–480.
  • "Overwintering of Aplanobacter stewarti." Science 80.2074 (1934): 289–290. With F.W. Poos.
The standard author abbreviation C.Elliott is used to indicate this person as the author when citing a botanical name.[7]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Andrews, John H., ed. "Charlotte Elliott: Accomplished Phytobacteriologist and First Female PhD". In And One Hand on the Bench: The First Century of the Department of Plant Pathology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. University of Wisconsin, 2010. Accessed Nov. 11, 2015.
  2. ^ a b c d e "Pioneering Plant Pathologists". American Phytopathological Society website. Accessed Nov. 11, 2015.
  3. ^ a b c d Association of Collegiate Alumnae. The Journal of the Association of Collegiate Alumnae, vol 10 (September 1916–June 1917), p. 678. Ithaca, NY: Association of Collegiate Alumnae.
  4. ^ a b c Gager, C. Stuart, ed.. Brooklyn Botanic Garden Record, vol. 5, no. 4 (October 1916), pp. 151–152.
  5. ^ Horst, R. Kenneth, ed. Westcott's Plant Disease Handbook. Springer Science + Business Media, 2001.
  6. ^ "Presidents of the Botanical Society of Washington", The Botanical Society of Washington website. Accessed Nov. 11, 2015.
  7. ^ International Plant Names Index.  C.Elliott.

Further reading[edit]

  • Matta, C.. "Charlotte Elliott (1883–1974): Great Interest and Unusual Natural Ability". In Pioneering Women in Plant Pathology, J. B. Ristaino, ed. St Paul, MN: American Phytopathological Society Press, 2008, pp. 47–56.
  • Robert, A. L., and J. G. Moseman. "Charlotte Elliott, 1883–1974". Phytopathology 66, 1976, p. 237.
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