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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., A.B. 1909; Univ. California, Ph.D.
1912
Honorary degrees:
Sc.D., 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 dis-
tribution 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 relation-
ships 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 accumu-
lated over the past 20 years certain postulates, based
upon the geologic history of the Andes, concerning
