Sophia Eckerson

Sophia Hennion Eckerson (c. 1880 – July 19, 1954) was an American

Following her doctorate, Eckerson obtained the post of assistant plant physiologist at the University of Chicago until 1915 when she became an instructor of plant microchemistry. During this time, she was also working as a microchemist with

Due to often moving around the country with her work, Eckerson never married.[1] She retired from active work in 1940,^[1] and died on July 19, 1954, in Pleasant Valley, Connecticut following a week's illness.^[2][4]

Research

Eckerson's work on plant chemistry began with her Ph.D. on the topic of how seed embryos change during germination. This work was conducted using different species of Crataegus, more commonly known as hawthorn. She stained sections of living tissue for a variety of biomolecules and found an increase in enzyme activity and acidity during the after-ripening period. ^[5]

At Washington State College, her work in development continued, where she worked on the progressive development of wheat plants. She tracked the chemical and morphological changes of wheat through its lifetime, similar to her graduate work, noting the chemical changes that take place during the ripening of grain. ^[6]

During her short tenure at the University of Wisconsin, she continued working on wheat plants. This time included a unique discovery of intracellular bodies associated with rosette disease in wheat. In this study, the group looked for the causal agent of rosette disease and additional leaf mottling in wheat. Unlike other mosaic diseases, leaf mottling of wheat continued over several years. The soil was found to be heavily infected with the fungus, Helminthosporium sativum, which caused mottling on up to 98% of the wheat in the plot. When the soil was disinfected with formaldehyde or steam, mottling was no longer present, suggesting that the fungus had caused the mottling. As a microchemist, Eckerson conducted microscopic studies of plant tissues affected by the rosette disease and documented intracellular bodies in these tissues, which are not found in healthy wheat plants. ^[7]

Her early work at the Boyce Thompson Institute was a continuation of the study of mottling leaves of mosaic plants, however, this experiment was in a new model organism, tomato.^[8] Later, in 1931, her work shifted back towards microchemical assays. She published a study examining the influence of phosphorus deficiency on metabolism in tomatoes, the distribution of reductase in apple trees, and the conditions that affect nitrate reduction in plants.^[9]

Later in her tenure at the Boyce Thompson Institute, she conducted experiments on how plants synthesize proteins found in the soil, and later on the processes by which cotton and other plants produce cellulose particles before later retiring in 1940.^[1]

References