Biodiversity Blog

Monday, 13 March 2023

History of UT Botany, Part 1: The Beginnings

Front and back of 1904 photo by HB Buck. (From Dolph Briscoe Center for American History). "Department of Botany U of T, Cooperia drummondii, Rain 'lilly', Campus U of T, April 20, '04. From HB Buck, 400 W. 38th St. Austin, TX." This blog starts off the new series for our Biodiversity Collections, with the focus on botany and what is now c...

Tuesday, 20 December 2022

The Woods of 214

When you enter room 214 in the Biological Laboratories Building (BIO), the first thing that may strike you is the wood paneling. You may then dismiss the room as a relic from the 1970s when cheap and sometimes synthetic wood paneling was all the rage. (That along with linoleum and an over-abundant use of anything avocado colored.) But BIO 214 has a...

Monday, 12 April 2021

Influential People of Biodiversity: Billie Turner

Posing in 1970 with Perityle turneri (Asteraceae), one of many species named in Turner's honor. (Photo: Mike Powell) I first met Billie Turner in early 2016. That was when I’d started working on the Integrative Biology History project, and as Turner had a seven-decade career, I knew I had to interview him. With so much to cover, one meeting woul...