Elsie Mabel Kupfer

Elsie Mabel Kupfer (September 5, 1877 - May 15, 1974) was a German American botanist and mycologist.

Life In 1899, Kupfer graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in Biology and then in 1901 with a Master of Science, both from Columbia University. She worked as a teacher at Wadleigh High School for Girls in New York. In 1907, she received her doctorate from Columbia with a thesis entitled "Studies in Plant Regeneration." She was a member of the Torrey Botanical Club and the New York Biology Teachers' Association.

As a Ph.D. student under the mentorship of Lucien Marcus Underwood, Kupfer reviewed the 1896 findings of German mycologist Heinrich Rehm. She proposed that Rehm’s transfer of Urnula craterium to Geopyxis be reversed, and Fries’ original classification be restored. Additionally, she determined that the fungal specimen collected by Underwood in 1893 and which Charles Horton Peck called Urnula geaster, be placed in a new genus, which she named Chorioactis.

Publications