Katherine Esau (3 April 1898 – 4 June 1997) was a pioneering German-American botanist who studied plant anatomy and the effects of viruses. Her books Plant Anatomy (1953, 1965, 2006) 1977) are key texts. In 1989, Esau received the National Medal of Science "In recognition of her distinguished service to the American community of plant biologists, and for the excellence of her pioneering research, both basic and applied, on plant structure and development, which has spanned more than six decades; for her superlative performance as an educator, in the classroom and through her books; for the encouragement and inspiration she has given to a legion of young, aspiring plant biologists; and for providing a special role model for women in science."
Personal life and education
Esau was born on 3 April 1898 in Ekaterinoslav, Russian Empire a family of Mennonites of German descent, so-called "Russian Mennonites". She attended a Mennonite Parish school prior to entering secondary school. Esau began studying agriculture in 1916 at the Golitsin Women's Agricultural College in Moscow, but returned home at the end of her second semester due to the Bolshevik Revolution.
In 1927, Spreckels was visited by Wilfred William Robbins, from the University Farm of the Northern Branch of the College of Agriculture (now University of California, Davis), and Henry A. Jones of the Davis Division of Truck Crops. Esau showed them her beet fields and asked about the graduate program at Davis. Robbins accepted her and employed her as a graduate assistant in the Botany Division. Esau resumed her education at the University of California, Davis in 1928.
Esau then joined the faculty in the new post of Junior Botanist in the Agricultural Experiment Station in the College of Agriculture. She taught at the University of California, Davis from 1932 to 1963. In 1963 she moved to University of California, Santa Barbara to better continue collaborative work with Vernon I. Cheadle.
Research
Esau was a pioneering plant anatomist and her books Plant Anatomy (1953) and Anatomy of Seed Plants (1960) are considered "iconic texts" in plant structural biology. Her early work in plant anatomy focused on the effect of viruses on plants, specifically on plant tissue and development. Her doctoral research had changed from field to laboratory study of curly top virus disease of sugar beet because of the difficulty of containing field infections with the disease. This led to her focus on plant anatomy and especially phloem tissue that was the subject of her scientific career. She soon discovered that the virus spread through the plants along the phloem. She began applying electron microscopy to her research in 1960.
Esau continued research well into her 90s, publishing a total of 162 articles and five books. Her papers are held by the Department of Special Collections in the Davidson Library at the University of California, Santa Barbara. She was official mentor to only 15 doctoral students but her exceptional ability as a teacher was recognised and appreciated by many.
Esau did not seem to attach importance to the recognition accorded her, and she told David Russell, who compiled her oral history, "I don't know how I happened to be elected [for the National Medal of Science]. I have no idea what impressed them about me."
Recognition
- She was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1949.
- In 1951, she was President of the Botanical Society of America.
- In 1989 President George Bush awarded Esau the National Medal of Science.
Legacy
Many of Esau's publications are housed and available for loan from the Cornelius Herman Muller library at the University of California, Santa Barbara's Cheadle Center for Biodiversity and Ecological Restoration.
In memory of her contributions as a lecturer, author and scientist, the Katherine Esau Award is awarded to the graduate student who presents the best paper in structural and developmental biology at the annual meeting of the Botanical Society of America.
Esau established the Katherine Esau Fellowship Program in 1993 at the University of California, Davis. This supports post-doctoral, junior faculty and some summer graduate fellowships.