William Alphonso Murrill
| William Alphonso Murrill | |
|---|---|
William Alphonso Murrill
|
|
| Born |
13 October 1869 Lynchburg, Virginia, USA |
| Died | 25 December 1957 (aged 88) Gainesville, Florida, USA |
| Residence | USA |
| Citizenship | United States |
| Fields | Mycology, Botany |
| Institutions |
Bowling Green Seminary Wesleyan Female Institute DeWitt Clinton High School New York Botanical Garden |
| Alma mater |
Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College at Blacksburg - B.Sc. (1887) Randolph Macon College - B.Sc. (1889), M.A. (1891) Cornell University - Ph.D. (1900) |
| Doctoral advisor | G.F. Atkinson |
| Other academic advisors | L.M. Underwood |
| Known for | Researching Hymenomycetes |
| Notable awards | Holland Society of New York - Gold Medal (1923) |
| Author abbrev. (botany) | Murrill |
William Alphonso Murrill (13 October 1869 – 25 December 1957) was an American mycologist, known for his contributions to the knowledge of the Agaricales and Polyporaceae. In 1904, he became the assistant Curator at the New York Botanical Garden (NYBG). He, along with the NYBG, founded the journal Mycologia and was its first editor for 16 years. Murrill was known to travel extensively to describe the mycota of Europe and the Americas. He traveled along the East Coast, Pacific Coast, Mexico and the Caribbean. Although Murrill was a very influential person at the NYBG, having worked his way up to become assistant director in 1908, his rather eccentric personality caused problems with his job. He went on annual collecting trips to Mexico, the Caribbean, Europe, and South America, sometimes, without informing any of his colleagues prior. These trips resulted in a cumulative total of 70,000 specimens, 1,400 of which are deposited in the NYBG.
Murrill married Edna Lee Lutrell on September 1, 1897. The two had an only on child during their marriage, a boy born in 1899, who died in his infancy. This death would contribute to problems further on in their marriage, ultimately resulting in divorce in 1924.
For eight months in 1924, Murrill went on another trip to Europe but seemed to disappear; no one was even sure if he was still alive! The Garden filled his position; it was later discovered that Murrill had a kidney condition and was actually in a rural French hospital during these eight months, unable to send word back to his wife or the NYBG. When he finally returned to New York, Murrill was extremely upset to learn that he had no job. The NYBG, in compensation, gave him a position that was much reduced in both pay and prestige. During this time, he was hospitalized intermittently for “nervous instabilities and physical exhaustion”. His wife, feeling neglected, divorced him during this time. Heartbroken and professionally dissatisfied, he then returned to his home state of Virginia to live in a log cabin, financially and mentally troubled.
Little was known about Murrill’s whereabouts until, in 1926, George F Weber, a mycologist and plant pathologist from University of Florida, was visiting a Gainesville resort called the Tin Can Tourist Camp along with his wife. In the recreation hall, they came across and unkempt and haggard, yet “tall, robust, dignified, pleasant stranger providing a piano concert for the transient tourists”. Weber soon recognized the stranger as none other than Murrill. It came to light later that Murrill had been frequently visiting Florida over the past years during the winter to collect mushrooms.
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