Rebeca Acevedo (23 January 1902 - 7 December 1987) was a Chilean professor and botanist. She was the first woman to head the botanical department of the Chilean National Museum of Natural History in 1947.[1]
Rebeca Acevedo San Martín de Vargas | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | 23 January 1902 |
| Died | 7 December 1987 (aged 85) |
| Alma mater | University of Chile |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Botany |
| Institutions | Chilean National Museum of Natural History |
| Author abbrev. (botany) | Acevedo |
Biography
editAcevedo was born in Retiro, Chile, in 1902. She obtained bachelor's degrees in biology and chemistry from the University of Chile in 1924. While at college, she also studied at the Chilean National Museum of Natural History, where she made contact with renowned Chilean scientists such as Carlos E. Porter. She continued working in the museum as an assistant to Francisco Fuentes Maturana, who was the head of the botanical department. Acevedo began to specialize in grasses, and continued working as a curator. She was put in charge of organizing the herbarium started by Carlos Muñoz Pizarro.[2]
In 1947, she became the head of the Museum's botanical department, becoming the first woman to hold that position. She held this position until 1964.[2] As curator of the National Herbarium, she established relationships with various researchers and botanical specialists around the world, such as Carl Skottsberg, Olga Borsini, Otto Solbrig, and Maevia Correa.
Legacy
editSpecies named after Acevedo include Escallonia rebecae by Eberhard Max Leopold Kausel,[3] and Placseptalia rebecae by Marcial Espinosa Bustos.[4]
References
edit- ^ Muñoz, Melica (1991). "100 años de la sección botánica del museo nacional de historia natural" (PDF). Boletín mensual del museo nacional de historia natural. 42: 190. Retrieved 17 January 2021.
- ^ a b Muñoz, Melica (2010). Biografía Rebeca Acevedo (in Spanish). Museo Nacional de Historia Natural. Retrieved 17 January 2021.
- ^ Darwiniana 10: 196, fig. 2, no. 7, tab. 3 (1953).
- ^ Bol. Mus. Nac. Hist. Nat. Santiago de Chile 23: 8 (tt. 1-6) (1947).
- ^ International Plant Names Index. Acevedo.