Background
Chamberlain was born on February 23, 1863, in Sullivan, Ohio. He was the son of Esdell W. Chamberlain and Mary Spencer.
173 W Lorain St, Oberlin, OH 44074, USA
Chamberlain attended Oberlin College, where he was graduated in 1888 with Bachelor of Arts degree. He later received the master’s degree from Oberlin in 1894.
5801 S Ellis Ave, Chicago, IL 60637, USA
In 1893 Chamberlain matriculated at the University of Chicago, where in 1897 he received the first doctorate conferred in the department of botany.
Chamberlain was born on February 23, 1863, in Sullivan, Ohio. He was the son of Esdell W. Chamberlain and Mary Spencer.
Chamberlain attended Oberlin College, where he studied botany under the geologist A. A. Wright, who also taught zoology. He was perhaps influenced then toward his later interest in the application of histological methods to botanical study and in the origin of plants whose line was to be traced from remote ancestors in the Paleozoic era. He was graduated from Oberlin in 1888 with Bachelor of Arts degree. He started to work, and during the summers continued his botanical studies toward the master’s degree, which he received from Oberlin in 1894. In 1893 Chamberlain matriculated at the University of Chicago, where in 1897 he received the first doctorate conferred in the department of botany.
Over the years he received numerous honors, including the honorary Doctor of Science from Oberlin in 1923.
Chamberlain taught in the public schools of Ohio and Minnesota and for several years was principal of the high school in Crookston, Minnesota. At the University of Chicago he was in charge of the botanical laboratories from their establishment and was a member of the faculty for over forty-five years. In 1901-1902 he engaged in research at Bonn, in the laboratory of the renowned botanist Eduard Strasburger.
At Chicago, Chamberlain became professor of morphology and cytology in 1915 and professor emeritus in 1929. He contributed to botanical publications and in 1902 became American editor for cytology of the Botanisches Zentralblatt. A member of international botanical societies, he was vice-president and chairman of the botanical section of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 1923 and president of the Botanical Society of America in 1931-1932.
In tracing the evolution of the cycads, Chamberlain studied the evidence of paleobotany and examined the structural relationships of past and living representatives, following the stages of their life histories. He saw the once-flourishing cycads as now restricted and struggling for survival. In order to see them as they grew in their natural surroundings, Chamberlain made a number of expeditions. He visited Mexico in 1904, 1906, 1908, and 1910; and in 1911-1912 he traveled around the world, to Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa, observing all of the oriental cycads during this journey. Later he made two such trips to Cuba. The Living Cycad is an account of these field expeditions to study the cycads. While collecting plant material and photographs and meeting other botanists interested in these plants, Chamberlain recorded a range of observations on the zoological features and the customs of countries he visited. He sent back to Chicago plant material for microscopic as well as macroscopic study in the laboratory, and specimens for the botanical garden. Enriched by his contributions over the years, the collection of living cycads in the botanical garden at the University of Chicago became foremost in the world; and at Chamberlain’s death it contained all of the nine genera which now survive and half of the known species. His lifework was to have led to a monograph, then near completion, on the morphology and phylogeny of the cycads.
(Volume 2)
1903
Chamberlain married Martha E. Life in 1888 and they had one daughter; after his wife died in 1931, he married Martha Stanley Lathrop in 1938.