Beatrix Potter was not only a writer, but also a microbiologist. However, unlike her literary work, her pioneering scientific work was ignored by the male-dominated scientific world in the 19th century.
Beatrix Potter was not only a writer, but also a microbiologist. However, unlike her literary work, her pioneering scientific work was ignored by the male-dominated scientific world in the 19th century.
From rabbit to lichen
Beatrix Potter is one of the most beloved storytellers of all time and author of books such as The Tale of Peter Rabbit. However, few people know of her fundamental contributions to mycology; the study of fungi. Potter made beautiful drawings of fungi, collected mushrooms and made careful observations under the microscope. She was especially fascinated by lichens. Linnaeus called lichens the "poor peasants of the plant world." A statement that made the lack of scientific understanding of these organisms painfully clear, since lichens are not plants, but a symbiotic life form of algae and fungi.
No entry as a woman
Through her detailed experiments, Potter saw that Linnaeus was wrong. Along with her beautiful drawings, she described her findings in the article “On the Germination of the Spores of Agaricineae”. Yet she did not get her discovery published. In the 19th century, formal scientific training or membership of one of the scientific societies was virtually inaccessible to women. For example, women were denied access to scientific presentations and the library of the famous Linnaean Society in London.
Still important
Potter's article was therefore never peer-reviewed because, as they made clear, she was not an equal. A century later, the Linnean Society apologized and formally acknowledged that Potter's investigation had been " treated scurvily." Fortunately, Potter's fungal drawings are still widely studied for scientific rigor and in identifying mushroom species.