Mildred Esther Mathias
Mildred Esther Mathias (September 19, 1906 – February 16, 1995) was an American botanist and professor. She was a professor at UCLA from 1962 until 1974. She also served as president of the American Society for Plant Taxonomists and the Botanical Society of America. Early career. Mathias was born in Sappington, Missouri on September 19, 1906. Beginning her college career in the 1920s, Mathias originally had planned to study mathematics, but she instead studied botany, getting her bachelor's, master's degree and PhD at Washington University in St. Louis by the age of 22. She married Gerald  Hassler, a PhD in Physics, in Philadelphia in August 1930. From 1932 to 1936, Mathias was a research associate at the New York Botanical Garden and then at Berkeley by 1937 with Dr. Lincoln Constance for carrot studies. Her family moved to southern California by 1944. Career. She studied, classified, and led groups to discover plants across the world, from Southeastern Asia to Australia, to South-Central Africa, to the Amazons, to the western United States, helping popularize "ecotourism". She discovered over 100 types of Umbelliferae, or carrots. In 1954, The genus "Mathiasella", a north-eastern Mexico umbellifer, was named  in her honor. Her first trip abroad as a retired professor was to Costa Rica in 1974 and led 53 trips since and to over 30 countries. She published over 200 articles and books about her findings. She placed a strong emphasis on education for the general public, both directing the UCLA botanical garden (which was renamed the Mildred E. Mathias Botanical Garden in her honor) and hosting a weekly television show via NBC on gardening with co-host Dr. William Stewart called "The Wonderful World of Ornamentals". Mathias helped establish the University of California Natural Reserve System (Natural Reserve  System) a system of undisturbed California habitats that was acquired and managed by the University of California for university teaching and research. She promoted conservation in Costa Rica, creating the Organization for Tropical studies, helping with preservation of Costa Rican lands.