Alice Eastwood

Alice Eastwood (January 19, 1859 – October 30, 1953) was a Canadian American botanist. She is credited with building the botanical collection at the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco. She published over 310 scientific articles and authored 395 land plant species names, the fourth-highest number of such names authored by any female scientist. There are seventeen recognized species named for her, as well as the genera Eastwoodia and Aliciella.

Born in Canada West, Eastwood spent some of her childhood in Canada before moving to Denver, Colorado as a teenager. Here she graduated high school and worked as a school teacher to make a living. She taught herself botanical skills and spent her summers collecting specimens in the mountains of Colorado.

After time spent traveling in California, Eastwood got a job working at the California Academy of Science's herbarium. She eventually took over as Curator of the Botany Department there, a position she would hold until her retirement at age 90. When a destructive earthquake shook San Francisco, Eastwood saved the type plant collection of the academy from the fires that followed. After the reconstruction of the academy, she worked to replace the specimens that had been lost, making collecting expeditions across the Western United States.

Eastwood received widespread recognition for her contributions to science, and a year after her retirement at age 91 she served as the Honorary President of the VII International Botanical Congress.