Helen Margaret Gilkey

Helen Margaret Gilkey (1886–1972) was an American mycologist and botanist, as well as a botanical illustrator and watercolor artist^[1][2] She was born on March 6, 1886, in Montesano, Washington, and moved to Corvallis, Oregon, with her family in 1903.^[2] She died in 1972 at the age of 86.^[3]

Helen Margaret Gilkey
Born	6 March 1886 Montesano, Washington, US
Died	7 August 1972
Alma mater	University of California, Berkeley Oregon Agricultural College
Known for	study of truffles scientific illustrations
Scientific career
Fields	mycology botany
Institutions	Oregon Agricultural College
Thesis	A Revision of the Tuberales of California
Author abbrev. (botany)	Gilkey

Education

Gilkey received both a bachelor's and a master's degree from Oregon Agricultural College (now Oregon State University) for her studies in botany (including mycology) and botanical illustration. She continued her studies at the University of California, Berkeley, and in 1915 she became the first woman^[2][4] to receive a Ph.D. in botany there. Gilkey's doctoral dissertation focused on the taxonomy of North American truffles (order Tuberales),^[5] and her published dissertation remains an important contribution to the study of truffle taxonomy in North America.^[6]

Career

After completing her doctoral studies, Gilkey worked as a scientific illustrator.^[3] She contributed original illustrations to Willis Linn Jepson's Manual of Flowering Plants of California.^[2][7] In 1918, Gilkey secured a position as the herbarium curator at the Oregon Agricultural College.^[1] Gilkey was best known for her extensive studies on truffles, but she also conducted research on vascular plants. Gilkey described many species of truffles from the United States as well as a few from Argentina and Australia.^[8][9] Her 1939 monograph^[10] is about on Tuberales of North America. The standard author abbreviation Gilkey is used to indicate this person as the author when citing a botanical name.^[11]. Over the course of her academic career, Gilkey published many books and over 40 scientific articles, with the last book being her Handbook of Northwestern Plants, published in 1967.^[6]

Awards and honors

In 1952, Gilkey received the "Outstanding Scientist" award from the Oregon Academy of Science, and she won the same award from the Northwest Scientific Association in 1969.^[2] In 2006, the truffle genus Gilkeya was named in her honor.^[12]