Ynes Mexica

Environmental & Science Education
Biodiversity
History of Science
Nature
Edward Hessler

Thanks to today's Google Doodle I was introduced to a scientist new to me: Mexican-American botanist and explorer, Ynes Mexica (May 24 1870 to July 12 1938). 

According to Bryce J. Williams, TheNewsCrunch, “The life of Ynes Mexia is a prime example of how it’s never too late to find one’s calling,” wrote Latino Natural History. Her full name was Ynes Enriquetta Julietta Mexica. Mexíca didn’t even start collecting specimens until she was in her 50s, and she didn’t live very long after that point."

Mexica started college when she was 51 (University of California-Berkeley). Upon graduation she started an ambitious collecting career-- ~ 150,000 specimens, ~ 500 of which were new to botany. Harmeet Kaur, writing for CNN, notes that "The Sierra Club Bulletin credits her with discovering two genera, or groups of species."

Today, September 15, is the first day of National Hispanic Heritage Month.