Wilmatte Porter Cockerell

Wilmatte Porter Cockerell
Cockerell with her husband Theodore in their garden, 1935
Born	Wilmatte Porter 1869 Leon, Iowa
Died	15 March 1957 (aged 87) Los Angeles, California
Resting place	Columbia cemetery, Boulder.
Nationality	American
Fields	Botany, Entomology
Alma mater	Stanford University
Known for	Discovery and collection of species of fauna and flora
Notable awards	1915 Medal, Panama–Pacific International Exposition
Spouse	Theodore Dru Alison Cockerell

Wilmatte Porter Cockerell (1869 - January 1, 1957) was an American botanist, entomologist and teacher notable for the numerous species of fauna and flora she discovered and collected. Copious species are named in her honour.

Cockerell was born Wilmatte Porter in Leon, Iowa, in the year 1869. She attended Stanford University and graduated from there in 1898.

From 1899 she taught biology at New Mexico Normal School in Las Vegas. There she worked with Theodore Dru Alison Cockerell who was also employed at that college. She worked jointly with him to establish an Agricultural Experiment Station.

Cockerell married Theodore on 19 June 1900. Along with undertaking her own field trips, both before and after her marriage she frequently went on collecting expeditions with Theodore. As well as field trips, she also collaborating with him on his scientific research and writing. Her support and work greatly increased the efficacy of Theodore's own career. After her marriage Cockerell continued to combine teaching with collecting, researching and writing papers. Along with her teaching career she supplemented the family income by selling specimens she obtained while on her field trips.

In 1904 Cockerell and her husband moved to Boulder, Colorado where Cockerell was employed as a biology teacher at the Colorado State Preparatory School. She continued at that high school for much of her teaching career.

In 1910 Cockerell discovered a red sunflower across the road from her home in a field. This sunflower was a mutant that she transferred to her garden and then proceeded to study and cultivate further, developing the mutation to the point where it could be sold to seed companies. Seed companies such as Peter Henderson & Co marketed the red sunflower seeds throughout the world. Cockerell was awarded a medal for her work on these sunflowers at the Panama-Pacific International Exhibition at San Francisco in 1915.

In August 1902 Cockerell took a field trip to Truchas Peak Rio Arriba County, New Mexico where she collected bees and other insects. This trip resulted in the first research published under her own name, "A trip to the Truchas Peaks, New Mexico" in the journal The American Naturalist.

In 1904 Porter published a paper on rubber producing plants in Science.