Josephine Elizabeth Tilden

1
Josephine Elizabeth Tilden

• 1869-1957

2
Phycologist

• Teacher
• Rare for a women to obtain a degree and become a
  teacher
• Researcher
• Bibliographer

• Professional interests
• Taxonomy
• Morphology
• Published works on
• Biogeography
• Phylogeny
• Economic uses of algae

Never let her gender impede her
3
Education

• 1895-received her B.S.
• Offered a job with the college of Minnesota
• Began Teaching
• Appointed department librarian
• 1897-received her M.S.
• Promoted to instructor
• 1901-established Botanical Beach Seaside Station
• 1910-promoted to full professor

4
Accomplishments

• 1894-distributed Century American Algae
• Studied, collected and identified algae species
• Published 5 papers on flora
• 1895-published lengthy bibliography on the
  American Phycological Literature
• 1896-completed Century II of American Algae
• 1898-distributed Century III of American Algae
• 1901-1902-Century V and VI of American Algae
• 1906-published laboratory notes and directions in
  General Plant Morphology (Algae, Fungi and
  Lichens)
• 1910-comlpeted The Myxophyceae of North America
  and Adjacent Regions. Century VII the last of
  American Algae
• 1910-1912-Distributed first 3 Centuries of South
  Pacific Algae
• 1913-Completed 3 Centuries of South Pacific
  Plants
• 1915-1937-worked on her Index Algarim Universals
  comprehensive bibliographic card file on the
  algae of the world (37,000 cards in the complete
  set)

5
Character

• Dedicated hard worker
• Had a passion for algae
• Uncanny skill for finding superb collecting sites
• Strong willed
• Inspired students
• 6 Ph D. students and numerous M.S. students
  completed their degrees with Tilden

6
In The End

• After dedicating all that she had to her studies
  Tilden died in poverty in 1957
• In her lifetime
• Produced 50 scientific papers
• 3 books
• 2 major exsiccatae
• American Algae
• South Pacific Algae