Cornelius Herman Muller
Encyclopedia
Cornelius Herman Muller (July 22, 1909 - January 26, 1997) was an American botanist
and ecologist who pioneered the study of allelopathy
.
in Botany
, Muller worked for the Illinois Natural History Survey for one year and then for the US Department of Agriculture in various capacities from 1938-1945. Summers
were usually spent on plant collecting trips to Mexico
, the Southwest
, and the southern
United States
. His work focused on vegetation
studies in Texas
and Mexico
and most prominently on oaks. Muller married Katherine Kinsel, also a botanist, who directed the Santa Barbara Botanic Garden
from 1950-1973. She was a partner with her husband in much of his vegetation
studies and oak
collecting trips, sharing in the creation of the extensive field notes found in this collection. He and Katherine also collaborated on a publication about Jean-Louis Berlandier
's plant collecting in Mexico in the 1820s
. Muller died in Santa Barbara
on January 26, 1997 at the age of 88.
Lycopersicon
and The Central American Species of Quercus. During World War II
, he worked for the Bureau of Plant Industry
on the Special Guayule
Research Project on a series of experiments on root development. His results were published in the USDA Technical Bulletin 923 entitled Root Development and Ecological Relations of Guayule. In 1945 he began teaching at the University of California, Santa Barbara
(then known as Santa Barbara College). He helped develop the botany major in 1947 and taught various courses in botany and ecology
until 1976 when he retired from UCSB. He continued in a teaching capacity as Adjunct Professor of Botany at the University of Texas from 1974 to 1992.
Muller founded UCSB’s Herbarium in the early 1950s and was Curator from 1956 to 1964. In addition to his teaching duties during his years at UCSB, Muller conducted numerous research studies, funded partly by four National Science Foundation
grants, on allelopathic mechanisms in California
plant communities and systematics and evolution of the species Quercus. He published over 110 articles and books, peer reviewed numerous articles and proposals, and supervised and worked with over 15 graduate students. He published two monograph
s: The Central American Species of Quercus and The Oaks of Texas as well as provided treatments for the genus in Arizona
Flora, Flora of Panama
, Manual of the Vascular Plants of Texas, and Flora
North America
.
Throughout his career, Muller took collecting trips to Costa Rica
, Cedros Island
off of Baja California
, Texas, Southern California
, and Mexico, and went twice to Europe
in the 1950s to study oak specimens at various herbaria. In the course of his years at UCSB, Muller deposited over 15,000 oak specimens in the UCSB Herbarium, including 90 type specimens.
. He was also honored for his work in oak systematics by having two plants named after him: Quercus cornelius-mulleri and Quercus mulleri. The library at UCSB's Cheadle Center for Biodiversity and Ecological Restoration
is named in his honor.
Botany
Botany, plant science, or plant biology is a branch of biology that involves the scientific study of plant life. Traditionally, botany also included the study of fungi, algae and viruses...
and ecologist who pioneered the study of allelopathy
Allelopathy
Allelopathy is a biological phenomenon by which an organism produces one or more biochemicals that influence the growth, survival, and reproduction of other organisms. These biochemicals are known as allelochemicals and can have beneficial or detrimental effects on the target organisms...
.
Personal life
After graduating from the University of Illinois in 1938 with a Ph.D.Ph.D.
A Ph.D. is a Doctor of Philosophy, an academic degree.Ph.D. may also refer to:* Ph.D. , a 1980s British group*Piled Higher and Deeper, a web comic strip*PhD: Phantasy Degree, a Korean comic series* PhD Docbook renderer, an XML renderer...
in Botany
Botany
Botany, plant science, or plant biology is a branch of biology that involves the scientific study of plant life. Traditionally, botany also included the study of fungi, algae and viruses...
, Muller worked for the Illinois Natural History Survey for one year and then for the US Department of Agriculture in various capacities from 1938-1945. Summers
Summers
- People :* Andy Summers , English guitarist* Bill Summers * Champ Summers , American baseball player* David Summers * Ed Summers , American baseball player...
were usually spent on plant collecting trips to Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
, the Southwest
Southwestern United States
The Southwestern United States is a region defined in different ways by different sources. Broad definitions include nearly a quarter of the United States, including Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas and Utah...
, and the southern
Southern United States
The Southern United States—commonly referred to as the American South, Dixie, or simply the South—constitutes a large distinctive area in the southeastern and south-central United States...
United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. His work focused on vegetation
Vegetation
Vegetation is a general term for the plant life of a region; it refers to the ground cover provided by plants. It is a general term, without specific reference to particular taxa, life forms, structure, spatial extent, or any other specific botanical or geographic characteristics. It is broader...
studies in Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
and Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
and most prominently on oaks. Muller married Katherine Kinsel, also a botanist, who directed the Santa Barbara Botanic Garden
Santa Barbara Botanic Garden
The Santa Barbara Botanic Garden is a 26 ha garden, containing over 1,000 species of rare and indigenous plants. It is located in Mission Canyon, Santa Barbara, California, USA....
from 1950-1973. She was a partner with her husband in much of his vegetation
Vegetation
Vegetation is a general term for the plant life of a region; it refers to the ground cover provided by plants. It is a general term, without specific reference to particular taxa, life forms, structure, spatial extent, or any other specific botanical or geographic characteristics. It is broader...
studies and oak
Oak
An oak is a tree or shrub in the genus Quercus , of which about 600 species exist. "Oak" may also appear in the names of species in related genera, notably Lithocarpus...
collecting trips, sharing in the creation of the extensive field notes found in this collection. He and Katherine also collaborated on a publication about Jean-Louis Berlandier
Jean-Louis Berlandier
Jean-Louis Berlandier was a French naturalist, physician, and anthropologist.Berlandier was born in rural Fort de l'Écluse, near France's border with Switzerland, and trained as a botanist in Geneva...
's plant collecting in Mexico in the 1820s
1820s
The 1820s decade ran from January 1, 1820, to December 31, 1829.- East Asia :* February 14, 1820 – Minh Mang starts to rule in Vietnam.* Java War * 1828 Siamese-Lao War: Siam invades and sacks Vientiane....
. Muller died in Santa Barbara
Santa Barbara, California
Santa Barbara is the county seat of Santa Barbara County, California, United States. Situated on an east-west trending section of coastline, the longest such section on the West Coast of the United States, the city lies between the steeply-rising Santa Ynez Mountains and the Pacific Ocean...
on January 26, 1997 at the age of 88.
Professional career
From 1938 to 1942 Muller worked for the USDA Division of Plant Exploration and Introduction, naming and classifying plant specimens. As a result of this work, he published A Revision of the GenusGenus
In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...
Lycopersicon
Lycopersicon
Lycopersicon was a genus in the flowering plant family Solanaceae . It contains 13 confirmed species in the tomato group of nightshades; a few others might also belong here. First removed from the genus Solanum by Philip Miller in 1754, its removal leaves the latter genus paraphyletic, so modern...
and The Central American Species of Quercus. During World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, he worked for the Bureau of Plant Industry
Bureau of Plant Industry
Bureau of Plant Industry may be:*Bureau of Plant Industry , an agency of the Philippine government under the Department of Agriculture*Bureau of Plant Industry , an agency of the United States Department of Agriculture...
on the Special Guayule
Guayule
Parthenium argentatum, commonly known as the Guayule , is a flowering shrub in the aster family, Asteraceae, that is native to the southwestern United States and northern Mexico. It can be found in the US states of New Mexico and Texas and the Mexican states of Zacatecas, Coahuila, Chihuahua, San...
Research Project on a series of experiments on root development. His results were published in the USDA Technical Bulletin 923 entitled Root Development and Ecological Relations of Guayule. In 1945 he began teaching at the University of California, Santa Barbara
University of California, Santa Barbara
The University of California, Santa Barbara, commonly known as UCSB or UC Santa Barbara, is a public research university and one of the 10 general campuses of the University of California system. The main campus is located on a site in Goleta, California, from Santa Barbara and northwest of Los...
(then known as Santa Barbara College). He helped develop the botany major in 1947 and taught various courses in botany and ecology
Ecology
Ecology is the scientific study of the relations that living organisms have with respect to each other and their natural environment. Variables of interest to ecologists include the composition, distribution, amount , number, and changing states of organisms within and among ecosystems...
until 1976 when he retired from UCSB. He continued in a teaching capacity as Adjunct Professor of Botany at the University of Texas from 1974 to 1992.
Muller founded UCSB’s Herbarium in the early 1950s and was Curator from 1956 to 1964. In addition to his teaching duties during his years at UCSB, Muller conducted numerous research studies, funded partly by four National Science Foundation
National Science Foundation
The National Science Foundation is a United States government agency that supports fundamental research and education in all the non-medical fields of science and engineering. Its medical counterpart is the National Institutes of Health...
grants, on allelopathic mechanisms in California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
plant communities and systematics and evolution of the species Quercus. He published over 110 articles and books, peer reviewed numerous articles and proposals, and supervised and worked with over 15 graduate students. He published two monograph
Monograph
A monograph is a work of writing upon a single subject, usually by a single author.It is often a scholarly essay or learned treatise, and may be released in the manner of a book or journal article. It is by definition a single document that forms a complete text in itself...
s: The Central American Species of Quercus and The Oaks of Texas as well as provided treatments for the genus in Arizona
Arizona
Arizona ; is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States. It is also part of the western United States and the mountain west. The capital and largest city is Phoenix...
Flora, Flora of Panama
Panama
Panama , officially the Republic of Panama , is the southernmost country of Central America. Situated on the isthmus connecting North and South America, it is bordered by Costa Rica to the northwest, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north and the Pacific Ocean to the south. The...
, Manual of the Vascular Plants of Texas, and Flora
Flora
Flora is the plant life occurring in a particular region or time, generally the naturally occurring or indigenous—native plant life. The corresponding term for animals is fauna.-Etymology:...
North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
.
Throughout his career, Muller took collecting trips to Costa Rica
Costa Rica
Costa Rica , officially the Republic of Costa Rica is a multilingual, multiethnic and multicultural country in Central America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, Panama to the southeast, the Pacific Ocean to the west and the Caribbean Sea to the east....
, Cedros Island
Cedros Island
Cedros Island is a Mexican island in the Pacific Ocean....
off of Baja California
Baja California
Baja California officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Baja California is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is both the northernmost and westernmost state of Mexico. Before becoming a state in 1953, the area was known as the North...
, Texas, Southern California
Southern California
Southern California is a megaregion, or megapolitan area, in the southern area of the U.S. state of California. Large urban areas include Greater Los Angeles and Greater San Diego. The urban area stretches along the coast from Ventura through the Southland and Inland Empire to San Diego...
, and Mexico, and went twice to Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
in the 1950s to study oak specimens at various herbaria. In the course of his years at UCSB, Muller deposited over 15,000 oak specimens in the UCSB Herbarium, including 90 type specimens.
Awards and honors
Muller was named Faculty Research Lecturer in 1957, the third faculty member at UCSB to receive the title, honoring distinguished research achievement both locally and abroad. In 1975 Muller was honored for his work in ecology by being named Eminent Ecologist for 1975, a prestigious award given by the Ecological Society of AmericaEcological Society of America
The Ecological Society of America is a professional organization of ecological scientists. Based in the United States, ESA publishes a suite of publications, from peer-reviewed journals to newsletters, fact sheets and teaching resources. It holds an annual meeting at different locations in the...
. He was also honored for his work in oak systematics by having two plants named after him: Quercus cornelius-mulleri and Quercus mulleri. The library at UCSB's Cheadle Center for Biodiversity and Ecological Restoration
Cheadle Center for Biodiversity and Ecological Restoration
The Cheadle Center for Biodiversity and Ecological Restoration is a University of California, Santa Barbara campus facility dedicated to education, research, and outreach.-Mission statement:...
is named in his honor.