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T. H. Goodspeed Professor of Botany and Director, Botanical Garden,
University of California, Berkeley (Emeritus, July 1,
1954; recalled to full time service to June 30, 1957)

Date of birth: May 17, 1887

Education: Brown Univ., AB 1909; Univ. California, PhD 1912

Honorary Degrees: ScD Brown Univ. 1940; Doctor Univ. La Plata 1939

Fellowships: Amer. Scan Foundation, Scandinavia, 1922-23;
Guggenheim Foundation, Europe, 1930-31, South America, 1935

Foreign travel: Europe, 6 visits, 4 for advanced training and research;
South America, Director of 5 Univ. Calif. Botanical Garden
Expeditions, 1935-53

Decorations: Com. Orden al Merito, Chile, 1952; Medallist, Paris, 1955

Major research programs and accomplishments:

I. The Genus Nicotiana -- species origins and evolution, taxonomy (1912-56)
Accumulation of a living collection of all but 4 of the 60 species
and many varieties and mapping of their distribution was the
primary objective of my South American botanical expeditions
(cf. above). This unique collection of the species of a
characteristic genus of flowering plants permitted exhaustive
investigations (a) of their comparative morphology, (b) of the
number, morphology and meiotic behavior of their chromosomes
and (c) of their cytogenetic relationships. The information
accumulated on these fundamental indications of species origins
and evolution, plus evidence on geographic distribution, was
presented in a monograph (cf. next page, Publications, 1954)
in which the origin, evolution and current relationships of all
60 species was charted.

II. The character and distribution of elements of the vegetation of
temperate South America
I have had a total of over 4 years contact with the floras
of the Andes and adjacent areas and their distribution,
particularly in Peru, Chile and Argentina but also in Colombia,
Bolivia and Uruguay (cf. attached map). Over 60,000 herbarium
specimens (some 13,000 numbers) were collected in the regions
traversed by myself and assistants, primarily in botanically
obscure areas. Many little known or previously unknown taxa
and much new distribution evidence was obtained. From this
combined evidence accumulated over the past 20 years certain
postulates, based upon the geologic history of the Andes,
concerning fundamental phytogeographical problems in temperate
South America have been derived. A number of areas botanically
little known have been shown by preliminary study to be critical
for evaluation of these postulates. The accumulation of much
additional evidence via further field work in these key areas
and correlated studies in South American herbaria is essential
(cf. attached project).