Henry Chandler Cowles
| Henry Chandler Cowles | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born |
February 27, 1869 Kensington, Connecticut, United States |
| Died | September 12, 1939 (aged 70) |
| Nationality | American |
| Fields | Botany |
| Institutions | University of Chicago |
| Alma mater | University of Chicago Oberlin College |
| Thesis | The Ecological Relations of the Vegetation on the Sand Dunes of Lake Michigan (1898) |
| Doctoral advisor | John Merle Coulter |
| Doctoral students |
Victor Ernest Shelford William Skinner Cooper Paul Sears |
| Known for | Ecological succession |
| Spouse | Elizabeth Waller |
| Children | Harriet |
Henry Chandler Cowles (February 27, 1869 – September 12, 1939) was an American botanist and ecological pioneer (see History of ecology). A professor at the University of Chicago, he studied ecological succession in the Indiana Dunes of Northwest Indiana. This led to efforts to preserve the Indiana Dunes. One of Cowles' students, O. D. Frank continued his research.
Born in Kensington, Connecticut, Cowles attended Oberlin College in Ohio. He studied at the University of Chicago with the plant taxonomist John M. Coulter and the geologist Thomas Chrowder Chamberlin as main teachers. He obtained his Ph.D. in 1898 for his study of vegetation succession on the Lake Michigan sand dunes. The inspiration to these studies came from reading Plantesamfund by the Danish botanist and pioneer ecologist Eugen Warming. The translation of Warming's term into English as "Oecology" led to Cowles becoming one of the primary popularizers of the term ecology in the United States. Cowles studied Danish to be able to read the original and later (1905) visited Warming in Copenhagen. Cowles was one of the founding members of the Ecological Society of America.
Cowles married Elizabeth Waller in 1900, and their daughter Harriet was born in 1912.
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