Ellen Hutchins

May 29, 2021 12:42 PM

In her short life (she died just before her thirtieth birthday) Ellen Hutchins of Ballylickey discovered a significant number of new species of non-flowering plants (mosses, seaweeds and lichens) and was a serious scientist before the word 'scientist' was even invented in 1833. Ellen was active as a botanist between 1805 and 1812, based at home in Ballylickey, on the shores of Bantry Bay, and fitting her studies around caring for her elderly and frail mother and a disabled brother. Ellen searched seashore, woodland, peat bog, mountainside, islands, riverbanks, and her own garden for specimens, and back home she matched them to those already known to botanists and sent those that she considered new to fellow botanists for confirmation and publication.

From the site about Ellen Hutchins, 'Ireland's first female botanist'.

posted by smcg (2 comments total)

This is a fascinating look at a woman that I wish I’d heard of before. I particularly liked the extracts from her letters, which somehow make her seem more real.
posted by scorbet at 1:17 PM on May 29, 2021 [2 favorites]

Hutchins was a contemporary of Mary "Jurassic" Anning but gets much less attention because dinosaurs beat algae. That site represents a really good project, because it uses the hook of a local figure to get people outside and paying attention to the natural world. That should be good for the future of science; but science is A way of knowing and it looks like The Arts [poetry, history, drawing, costume] is also being encouraged down Bantry way. Ace! Thanks smcg.
posted by BobTheScientist at 10:33 PM on May 29, 2021 [2 favorites]