This cache is part of an occasional series about Women in STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics). The cache is not located at the posted coordinates.
This puzzle introduces a few famous botanists from history.
Jeanne Baret, a French botanist, is the first woman to circumnavigate the globe. There was one small detail, namely that it was illegal for women to be part of such naval expeditions. Her partner was a botanist who was selected to be part of a French expedition from 1766-69, and she disguised herself as a male to accompany him as his assistant.
Agnes Arber, who was born in London, England, and spent most of her life in Cambridge, was a plant morphologist and anatomist, historian of botany and philosopher of biology. first published her botanical research in 1894 and went on to earn a Doctorate of Science in 1905. Her research focused on the monocotyledon group of flowering plants. She became the first woman botanist, and the third woman overall, to be elected Fellow of the Royal Society in 1946. She was the first woman to earn the Gold Medal of the Linnean Society of London, in 1948.
Katherine Esau was born in what is now Ukraine (it was Russia then), moved with her family to Germany to escape the Bolshevik Revolution, and moved again with her family to the US where she spent most of her life. Her first job in the US was working with sugar beets to develop a variety that was resistant to the curly top virus. She earned a doctorate at University of California, Berkeley and spent most of her career at University of California, Davis, studying phloem which is the food conducting tissue in plants. In 1954 she published the book Plant Anatomy which is still in use. In 1957 she became the 6th woman added to the National Academy of Sciences. She received the National Medal of Science from George H.W. Bush in 1989 for her “pioneering research and contributions to the botanical sciences.”
Roseli Ocampo-Friedmann was a botanist and microbiologist who specialized in the study of microorganisms living in extreme environments. She was born in Manila, Philippines; she earned a botany degree from University of the Philippines, a master’s degree at Hebrew University in Jerusalem, and a PhD from Florida State University. NASA cited her 1976 study on her experiments with cultivating plants in Antarctica as the basis for theorizing about life on Mars.
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