Chicita F. Culberson

{{short description|American lichenologist}} {{Use American English|date=September 2024}} {{Use mdy dates|date=September 2024}} {{Infobox scientist | honorific_prefix = | name = | honorific_suffix = | image =  | image_size = | image_upright = | alt = | caption = | birth_name = Chicita Forman | birth_date = {{birth date|1931|11|01}} | birth_place = [[Philadelphia, Pennsylvania]] | death_date = {{death date and age |2023|03|05|1931|11|01}} | death_place = | death_cause = | resting_place = | resting_place_coordinates =  | home_town = | other_names = | pronounce = | residence = | citizenship = | fields = [[Lichenology]] | workplaces = [[Duke University]] | patrons = | education = | alma_mater = [[Duke University]], <br> [[University of Wisconsin–Madison]], <br> [[University of Cincinnati]] | thesis_title =  | thesis_url =  | thesis_year =  | doctoral_advisor =  | academic_advisors = | doctoral_students = | notable_students = | known_for = | influences = | influenced = | awards = [[Acharius Medal]] | author_abbrev_bot = | author_abbrev_zoo = | spouse = [[Bill Culberson]] | partner =  | children = | signature =  | signature_alt = | website =  | footnotes = }}

'''Chicita Frances Culberson''' (born '''Chicita Frances Forman''', November 1, 1931, in [[Philadelphia, Pennsylvania]] – March 5, 2023, in [[Durham, North Carolina]])<ref>{{Cite web|title = Obituary for Chicita Frances Culberson|url = https://www.hallwynne.com/obituaries/Chicita-Frances-Culberson?obId=27467761|accessdate = 2024-02-11}}</ref> was an American [[lichenologist]].

==Education== Culberson grew up on [[Long Island]] while her father worked as a surgeon in nearby [[New York City]].<ref name="LaGreca 2023"/> She graduated with a B.S. from the [[University of Cincinnati]] in 1953, where she also met her future husband, [[Bill Culberson]].<ref name="Herbarium">{{Cite web|title = Chicita F Culberson, Senior Research Scientist|url = https://fds.duke.edu/db/aas/Herbarium/lichens/cculb|website = fds.duke.edu|accessdate = 2015-11-21}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title = IAL - Acharius Medallists|url = http://www.lichenology.org/Awards/Acharius_CulbersonCF.html|website = www.lichenology.org|accessdate = 2015-11-21|archive-date = 2013-11-07|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20131107234443/http://www.lichenology.org/Awards/Acharius_CulbersonCF.html|url-status = dead}}</ref> In 1954, she received an M.S. from the [[University of Wisconsin–Madison|University of Wisconsin]], where her research involved using a [[radioactive tracer|radioactive nickel tracer]] to study the physical and chemical processes of the [[electrophoretic deposition|electrodeposition]] of metal on a [[cathode]].<ref name="LaGreca 2023"/> In 1959 she received a Ph.D. from [[Duke University]],<ref name="Herbarium" /> focusing on the [[chemical synthesis|synthesis]] of bicyclic [[monoterpene]]s related to [[camphor]].<ref name="LaGreca 2023"/>

==Career== After earning her Ph.D., Culberson held a two-year NSF-funded research associateship in Chemistry at Duke before joining the Department of Botany as a Senior Research Associate.<ref name="LaGreca 2023"/> Over her 50+ year career at Duke, she held various titles including Senior Research Associate, Lecturer, Adjunct Professor, and Research Professor.<ref name="LaGreca 2023"/> In the mid-1970s she and William Culberson hosted the Swedish lichenologist [[Ingvar Kärnefelt]] at Duke; he examined their ''[[Cetraria]]'' collections and later published a widely reproduced photograph of the couple at their garden table.<ref name="Kärnefelt 2025">{{cite journal |last=Kärnefelt |first=Ingvar |year=2025 |title=Reflections of my life and career |journal=Acta Botanica Hungarica |volume=67 |issue=1–3 |page=8 |doi=10.1556/034.67.2025.1-3.2 |doi-access=free}}</ref>

A botanical researcher at Duke University, Culberson pioneered the use of [[thin-layer chromatography]] in the identification of secondary [[lichen product]]s,<ref>[http://www.lichenology.org/Awards/Acharius_CulbersonCF.html Acharius Medallists: Chicita F. Culberson] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131107234443/http://www.lichenology.org/Awards/Acharius_CulbersonCF.html |date=2013-11-07 }} at Lichenology.org; published 2007 or earlier; retrieved October 22, 2013</ref> developing a standardized method that is still used today. She later refined this method and supplemented it with [[high-performance liquid chromatography]] (HPLC).<ref name="LaGreca 2023"/> In 1969, Culberson published "Chemical and Botanical Guide to Lichen Products", a major work summarizing all published knowledge of [[secondary metabolite]]s made by lichens. She also produced two supplements to this guide.<ref name="LaGreca 2023"/>

Culberson's research focused on characterizing [[chemotype]]s, proposing [[biosynthetic pathway]]s of lichen secondary metabolites, and studying [[gene flow]] between chemotypes. She developed skills in culturing single spore isolates and analyzing them with HPLC to search for evidence of gene flow between chemotypes.<ref name="LaGreca 2023"/>

==Personal life== Culberson was married to fellow lichenologist [[Bill Culberson]] from 1953,<ref>[http://www.lichenology.org/Awards/Acharius_CulbersonWL.html Acharius Medallists: William Louis Culberson] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070719235535/http://www.lichenology.org/Awards/Acharius_CulbersonWL.html |date=2007-07-19 }} at Lichenology.org; retrieved November 28, 2017</ref> until his death in 2003. Culberson died on March 5, 2023, at Croasdaile Village, a senior adult community in Durham, North Carolina.<ref name="LaGreca 2023"/>

==Legacy==

Culberson's work significantly contributed to the growth and value of the lichen collection at Duke University. The W. L. & C. F. Lichen Herbarium and Library at Duke, named in honor of the Culbersons, contains an estimated 14,000 specimens analyzed by Chicita out of a total of 108,000 specimens. Her perspective on chemical stability versus morphological variability in lichens influenced many other lichenologists.<ref name="LaGreca 2023"/>

==Recognition==

In 1992, Culberson became one of the first modern recipients of the [[Acharius Medal]].<ref>[http://www.lichenology.org/index.html?/Awards/AchariusMedallists.html Acharius Medallists] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210624065615/http://www.lichenology.org/index.html?%2FAwards%2FAchariusMedallists.html |date=2021-06-24 }} at Lichenology.org; retrieved October 22, 2013</ref>

Culberson was a lifelong member of both the [[American Chemical Society]] and the [[American Bryological and Lichenological Society]], serving as President of the latter from 1996–1997.<ref name="LaGreca 2023"/> In 2006, she received the Botanical Society of America's Centennial Award for "exemplary service to the plant sciences". In 2022, she was made an honorary lifetime member of the [[British Lichen Society]] for her outstanding contributions to research on lichen secondary metabolites.<ref name="LaGreca 2023"/> At the 9th [[International Association for Lichenology]] conference held virtually in Brazil on August 4, 2021, the lichen chemistry symposium was dedicated to Culberson for her 90th birthday.<ref name="IAL 2021">{{cite journal |last1=LaGreca |first1=Scott |year=2021 |title=The lichen chemistry symposium at IAL9 was dedicated to Chicita Culberson for her 90th birthday |journal=International Lichenological Newsletter |volume=54 |issue=2 |pages=19–21 |url=http://www.lichenology.org/Publications/ILN/ILN54_2.pdf}}</ref>

===Eponymy===

In 2000, the lichenologist Theodore Esslinger [[circumscription (taxonomy)|circumscribed]] ''[[Culbersonia]]'', which is a fungal [[genus]] in the family [[Caliciaceae]] and named in Bill Culberson and Chicita F. Culberson's honor, his "longtime friends and mentors".<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Esslinger |first1=Theodore L. |title=''Culbersonia americana'', a rare new lichen (Ascomycota) from Western America |journal=The Bryologist |volume=103 |issue=4 |year=2000 |pages=771–773 |doi=10.1639/0007-2745(2000)103[0771:CAARNL]2.0.CO;2}}</ref><ref>{{cite book | last=Burkhardt | first=Lotte | title=Eine Enzyklopädie zu eponymischen Pflanzennamen |trans-title=Encyclopedia of eponymic plant names | publisher=Botanic Garden and Botanical Museum, Freie Universität Berlin | year=2022 | isbn=978-3-946292-41-8 |url=https://doi.org/10.3372/epolist2022|format=pdf |language=German |location=Berlin | doi=10.3372/epolist2022 |access-date=January 27, 2022}}</ref> The lichen genus ''[[Chicitaea]]'', proposed in 2024, honors Culberson "for her foundational, pioneering and lifelong contributions to the fields of lichen chemistry and lichen taxonomy".<ref name="Ptach-Styn et al. 2024"/> {{botanist|C.F.Culb.|Culberson, Chicita Frances}}

==See also== * [[:Category:Taxa named by Chicita F. Culberson]]

==Sources== *[http://www.lichenology.org/Awards/Acharius_CulbersonCF.html Biography of Dr Culberson] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131107234443/http://www.lichenology.org/Awards/Acharius_CulbersonCF.html |date=2013-11-07 }} at Lichenology.org {{Reflist|refs=

<ref name="LaGreca 2023">{{cite journal |last=LaGreca |first=Scott |title=Chicita Francis Culberson (1931–2023) |journal=The Bryologist |volume=126 |issue=3 |year=2023 |doi=10.1639/0007-2745-126.3.379 |pages=379–384}}</ref>

<ref name="Ptach-Styn et al. 2024">{{cite journal |last1=Ptach-Styn |first1=Łucja |last2=Guzow-Krzemińska |first2=Beata |last3=Lendemer |first3=James C. |last4=Tønsberg |first4=Tor |last5=Kukwa |first5=Martin |title=Phylogeny of the genus ''Loxospora'' s.l. (Sarrameanales, Lecanoromycetes, Ascomycota), with ''Chicitaea'' gen. nov. and five new combinations in ''Chicitaea'' and ''Loxospora'' |journal=MycoKeys |volume=102 |year=2024 |pmid=38414731 |pmc=10897838 |doi=10.3897/mycokeys.102.116196 |doi-access=free |pages=155–181}}</ref>

}}

==External links== *[http://fds.duke.edu/db/aas/Biology/faculty/cculb Dr Culberson's faculty page] at [[Duke University]] *[https://web.archive.org/web/20120227123459/http://en.scientificcommons.org/chicita_f_culberson Partial bibliography of Dr Culberson's research] at [[Scientific Commons]]

{{Presidents of the American Bryological and Lichenological Society|state=collapsed}} {{Recipients of the Acharius Medal}} {{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Culberson, Chicita F.}} [[Category:1931 births]] [[Category:2023 deaths]] [[Category:Scientists from Philadelphia]] [[Category:University of Cincinnati alumni]] [[Category:University of Wisconsin–Madison alumni]] [[Category:Duke University faculty]] [[Category:American women botanists]] [[Category:American lichenologists]] [[Category:Acharius Medal recipients]] [[Category:21st-century American botanists]] [[Category:American women academics]] [[Category:21st-century American women scientists]] [[Category:Women lichenologists]]