Anna Vickers

{{short description|British phycologist}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} {{Infobox scientist | honorific_prefix = | name = | honorific_suffix = | native_name = | native_name_lang = | image =  | image_size = | alt = | caption = | birth_date = {{birth date |1852|06|28}} | birth_place = Bordeaux | death_date = {{death date and age |1906|08|01 |1852|06|28}} | death_place = Roscoff | death_cause = | resting_place = | resting_place_coordinates =  | other_names = | residence = | citizenship = | nationality = | fields = Phycology | workplaces = | patrons = | education = | alma_mater = | thesis_title =  | thesis_url =  | thesis_year =  | doctoral_advisor =  | academic_advisors = | doctoral_students = | notable_students = | known_for = algae of the Antilles and the Canary Islands | influences = | influenced = | awards = | author_abbrev_bot = | author_abbrev_zoo = | spouse =  | partner =  | children = | signature =  | signature_alt = | website =  | footnotes = }}

'''Anna Vickers''' (28 June 1852 – 1 August 1906) was a marine algologist and plant collector known principally for her work on algae of the Antilles and the Canary Islands.

==Biography== Anna Vickers was born on 28 June 1852 in Bordeaux, France, though it is likely that her father was British.<ref name=creese/><ref name="desmond"/> In 1879–80, she visited Australia and New Zealand with her family, traveling widely and becoming interested in the Maori language.<ref name=creese/> In 1883 she published a monograph about these travels, ''Voyage en Australie et en Novelle-Zélande''. Topics she touched on range from word derivations in the Maori language to the ferns and algae of south Australia. She illustrated the book with sketches from her own photographs.<ref name=creese/>

She died on 1 August 1906 in Roscoff, France.<ref name=creese/><ref name=place/>

==Scientific work== thumb|''Vickersia canariensis'' (now ''Vickersia baccata'') by N. Karsakoff, 1896. Vickers carried out research into marine flora around Roscoff, Naples (Italy), Antibes (France), the Canary Islands, and the Antilles.<ref name=creese/> She published major papers in French journals on the algae of the Canary islands and Barbados, reporting results of field work done in the Canaries in 1895–96 and in the West Indies in 1898–99 and 1902–03.<ref name=creese/><ref name="ogilvie"/> Her work in the Canaries led to the identification of over 30 new species on the island of Gran Canaria alone, while her work in the Antilles led to descriptions of over two dozen new species.<ref name=creese/>

When Vickers died at the age of 54, she left a planned book on Barbadian algae unfinished.<ref name=creese/> It was completed by her colleague Mary Shaw and published posthumously in 1908 as ''Phycologia Barbadensis'', with 93 plates of anatomical drawings by Vickers and other illustrations in color by a Mlle Trottet.<ref name=creese/><ref name=plants/> It included descriptions of five new species.<ref name=creese/>

Along the way, Vickers collected numerous specimens that went into the collection of the British Museum and the New York Botanical Garden as well as to other museums in Europe and the United States.<ref name=creese/><ref name=plants/> Between 1898 and 1906 she edited the exsiccata ''Algues de la Barbade''.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Algues de la Barbade: IndExs ExsiccataID=1138272896 |website=IndExs - Index of Exsiccatae |publisher=Botanische Staatssammlung München |url=https://www.botanischestaatssammlung.de/DatabaseClients/IndExs/Exsiccatae_IndExs_Details.jsp?ExsiccataID=1138272896 |access-date=9 May 2024 |archive-date=8 May 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240508225131/https://www.botanischestaatssammlung.de/DatabaseClients/IndExs/Exsiccatae_IndExs_Details.jsp?ExsiccataID=1138272896 |url-status=live }}</ref>

Vickers is commemorated in the name of the red algae genus ''Vickersia'' (Karsakoff, 1896) of the family Wrangeliaceae.<ref name=plants/><ref name=algaebase/>

==Notes and references== <references>

<ref name=algaebase>[http://www.algaebase.org/search/genus/detail/?genus_id=o911f19906f2c44e0&-session=abv4:476C892407cac050ECGp34C4EFE5 "''Vickersia'' Karsakoff, 1896"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200426024051/https://www.algaebase.org/search/genus/detail/?genus_id=o911f19906f2c44e0&-session=abv4:476C892407cac050ECGp34C4EFE5 |date=26 April 2020 }}. Algaebase website. Accessed March 18, 2016.</ref>

<ref name=place>Desmond (1977) and other sources incorrectly give her place of death as "Roscoff, Finisterre, Spain," apparently confusing the French department of Finistère (where Roscoff is located) with Spain's Cape Finisterre.</ref>

<ref name="ogilvie">{{cite book|last1=Ogilvie|first1=Marilyn|last2=Harvey|first2=Joy|author-link=Marilyn Bailey Ogilvie|author2-link=Joy Harvey|title=The biographical dictionary of women in science: pioneering lives from ancient times to the mid-20th century|date=2003|publisher=Routledge|pages=1328}}</ref>

<ref name=plants>[http://plants.jstor.org/stable/10.5555/al.ap.person.bm000047526 "Vickers, Anna (1852-1906)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160328044854/http://plants.jstor.org/stable/10.5555/al.ap.person.bm000047526 |date=28 March 2016 }}. Global Plants website. Accessed March 18, 2016.</ref>

<ref name="desmond">{{cite book|last1=Desmond|first1=Ray|title=Dictionary of British and Irish Botanists|date=1977}}</ref>

<ref name=creese>{{cite book|last1=Creese|first1=Mary R.S.|title=Ladies in the Laboratory? American and British Women in Science, 1800-1900: A Survey of Their Contributions to Research|date=2000|publisher=Scarecrow Press|page=47}}</ref>

</references>

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vickers, Anna}} Category:1852 births Category:1906 deaths Category:Phycologists Category:Women phycologists Category:French women scientists Category:French women botanists Category:19th-century British women scientists