Isabel Clifton Cookson

Isabel Clifton Cookson (born December 25, 1893 in Hawthorn , Victoria , † July 1, 1973 ) was an Australian paleobotanist and palynologist . Its official botanical author abbreviation is " Cookson ".

Life

Cookson studied botany and zoology at the University of Melbourne with a bachelor's degree in 1916 and was then a demonstrator at the university. At that time she was studying the flora in the Northern Territory . In 1925/26 she studied at Imperial College in London and in 1926/27 at the University of Manchester , where her collaboration with WH Lang began. She now turned to palaeobotany, initially early vascular plants in the Silurian and Devonian, collecting many fossils herself in Victoria (near Walhalla on the Yarra River). But she also examined plant fossils in the Miocene coal strata in Yallourn and showed that some of the plants are still found in Australia today (such as Lagarostrobos franklinii ). In 1932 she received a D. Sc. the University of Melbourne, where she was a lecturer from 1930 . From the 1940s she turned to micropalaeontology and palynology, i.e. the study of fossil pollen and spores and phytoplankton, also with application in paleogeography and oil exploration. In 1949 she took over a pollen research group of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research and in 1952 she became a Research Fellow in Botany. Even after her retirement in 1959, she remained scientifically active.

The Botanical Society of America has been presenting the Isabel Cookson Award for best work in paleobotany since 1976. She published 85 scientific papers.

The plant genus Cooksonia is named after her by WH Lang.

She was a passionate pianist, played tennis and, at an advanced age, was able to finance travel and research partly through skillful stock speculation.

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personal data
SURNAME	Cookson, Isabel Clifton
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Australian paleobotanist and palynologist
DATE OF BIRTH	December 25, 1893
PLACE OF BIRTH	Hawthorn , Victoria
DATE OF DEATH	July 1, 1973