Henrietta Edgecomb Hooker

Henrietta Edgecomb Hooker (December 12, 1851 – May 13, 1929) was an American botanist and professor at Mount Holyoke Female Seminary (now Mount Holyoke College). She was the second female doctoral graduate in botany at Syracuse University, which made her one of the first women to earn a Ph.D. in botany from any U.S. university.

Early life and education Hooker was born to Eliza Annie Hooker and George Washington Hooker in 1851, and was orphaned at the age of seven. In 1867, at age sixteen, she began working at a New England cotton factory, but after a week of employment there, she sought help in finding a different job.

Hooker entered Mount Holyoke Female Seminary in 1871 and graduated in 1873. Hooker was among the first women to earn a Ph.D. in botany in the United States. In 1899, she was one of two teachers with a Ph.D. at Mount Holyoke (the other being Clapp, the first woman in the United States to be awarded that degree in biology).

Hooker taught at Mount Holyoke for thirty-five years. and Hooker Auditorium is named in her honor.

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