Asa Gray, foremost American botanist of the nineteenth century (b. 1810; d. 1888), 

 was trained to be a physician, but relinquished medicine for botany. He taught 

 during the school year, made collecting trips in summer or worked in European 

 botanical centers, and built up the famous Gray Herbarium of Harvard University. 

 As professor of botany at Harvard from 1842, he taught many of the older botanists 

 of the present generation. In 1836 he began a series of elementary textbooks, 

 which were widely used for more than fifty years. His many botanical publications 

 are chiefly systematic. A great teacher, a close friend of his students, a constant 

 worker and author of admirably written scientific and popular articles, he is the 

 most important figure among the founders of botany in America 



