Bohumil Shimek

Bohumil Shimek
Born	June 25, 1861 Shueyville, Iowa
Died	January 30, 1937 (aged 75) Iowa City, Iowa
Occupation	professor, naturalist
Children	Frank Shimek
Parent(s)	Maria Theresa and Francis Joseph Shimek

Bohumil Shimek (June 25, 1861 – January 30, 1937) was an American naturalist, conservationist, and a professor at the University of Iowa. The Shimek State Forest in Iowa is named after him.

Shimek was born on a farm near Shueyville, Iowa to Czech parents, Maria Theresa and Francis Joseph Shimek, who came to the United States to escape religious and political persecution under the Austrian Empire. In 1866, the family moved to Iowa City to have access to medical care for his mother, who was suffering from tuberculosis. However, she succumbed to the disease soon afterwards. Shimek's father worked as a cobbler. In 1878, Francis Shimek became paralyzed and later died in 1880.

Bohumil Shimek first attended college in 1878 at the University of Iowa as a student of engineering. He graduated from the university in 1883 with a degree in civil engineering, and subsequently worked as a railroad and county surveyor. He later taught of Zoology at the University of Nebraska from 1888 to 1890, and later returned to the University of Iowa as an instructor in botany. In 1895, he became Assistant Professor in botany and curator of the herbarium, and he continued in the latter position until his death. In 1902 he was awarded a Master's degree in science. He served as head of the botany department at University of Iowa from 1914 to 1919.

Shimek traveled extensively in North America studying nature, and also spent time traveling in Czechoslovakia, and Nicaragua. He especially traveled extensively throughout the American midwest and throughout every region of Iowa. Records show that between 1925 and 1928 Shimek had collected more than 10,000 specimens in Iowa, Nebraska, South Dakota, Wisconsin and Illinois. It has been estimated that, over his lifetime, Shimek contributed 200,000 specimens of vascular plants and 5,000 specimens of bryophytes to the collection.

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