| Activity | Merrill's status during his lifetime is well relayed by the final words of his ANB entry: "In his day Merrill was one of the most highly regarded botanical taxonomists in the world. He procured more than 1 million specimens for the botanical collections under his administration and published more than 500 botanical treatises. His pioneering contributions to the classification of Oriental and Oceanic flora coupled with his activities as an administrator, author, builder of botanical collections, editor, organizer, and researcher earned for him an international reputation."
1889 - 1902 was an assistant at the US Department of Agriculture. 1902 - 1923 serves as USDA botanist in Philippines, works in other government and teaching capacities whilst there including directing its Bureau of Science 1919 - 1923. 1923 he was elected to the National Academy of Sciences. From 1923 - 1929 he was dean of the college of agriculture and director of the agricultural experiment station at the University of California. From 1930 - 1935 he was professor of Botany at Columbia University and director of the New York Botanical Garden. Founded the journal 'Britonnia' 1931 and served as its editor from 1931 - 1935. He was acting president of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 1931 too. In 1934 he was president of the Botanical Society of America. In 1935 he was made Arnold professor of Botany at Harvard University and from 1935 - 1946 he was director of the Arnold Arboretum at Harvard too. In 1936 and 1950 he was president of the section of nomenclature, International Botanical Congress. In 1946 he was president of the American Society of Plant Taxonomists. From 1946 - 1948 he was Arnold professor of botany emeritus at Harvard University. |