author
Charles R. Barnes
A pioneering American botanist, this writer helped shape plant science in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He is especially remembered for work on bryophytes and for introducing the term “photosynthesis” into scientific use.
1 Audiobook
On the Sweeny wire
by Charles R. Barnes
About the author
Born in Madison, Indiana, in 1858, Charles Reid Barnes was an American botanist and teacher whose career included posts at Purdue University, the University of Wisconsin, and the University of Chicago. He became widely known for his research in plant physiology and for his close study of bryophytes—mosses, liverworts, and hornworts.
He also played an important editorial role in science, serving for more than 25 years as co-editor of the Botanical Gazette. Barnes is often credited with helping establish the term photosynthesis in botanical vocabulary, and his work influenced how plant processes were described and taught.
He died in Chicago in 1910 after injuries from an accidental fall. Though not a household name today, he was an important figure in American botany and in the growth of plant science as a modern academic field.