Emma Lucy Braun - Life

Life

Emma Lucy Braun was born on April 19, 1889 in Cincinnati; she lived in Cincinnati for the remainder of her life. She studied botany and geology. She earned a PhD in botany and became the second woman to earn a PhD from the University of Cincinnati; her sister Annette Braun was the first. Braun went on to teach ecology at the University of Cincinnati; she retired from teaching to focus on her research. She also conducted extensive field studies with her sister who was an entomologist. They purchased a car in 1930 and used to travel around the East Coast, studying the environment. Lucy took hundreds of photographs of the natural flora. These field studies mainly focused on the flora of the Appalachian Mountains and largely contributed to her most famous book. Lucy and her sister encountered moonshiners during their field studies, although they never turned anyone in, and became friends with the locals in order to explore the forests. They set up a laboratory and experimental garden at their shared home; she was never married. Lucy Braun also fought to conserve natural areas and set up nature reserves, particularly in her home state. She began pressing flowers while in high school and collected an extensive herbarium that now resides in the National Museum in Washington D.C.