Karl J. Niklas
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Karl Joseph Niklas (born 1948) is an American botanist and paleobotanist who is a Liberty Hyde Bailey Professor Emeritus in the field of Plant Biology at the School of Integrative Plant Science at Cornell University.[1] His work focuses on plant biomechanics, allometry and functional morphology. His research in plant evolutionary biology has included studies on early land plant diversification patterns and morphospaces.[2][3]
1948 (age 77–78)
University of Illinois (Ph.D., 1974)
- Plant biomechanics
- allometry
- quantitative paleobotany
- Plant biology
- paleobotany
- biomechanics
Karl J. Niklas | |
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| Born | Karl Joseph Niklas 1948 (age 77–78) |
| Alma mater | City College of New York (B.Sc.) University of Illinois (Ph.D., 1974) |
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| Institutions | Cornell University |
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Education
Niklas earned his bachelor's degree at City College of New York.[4] He earned his Ph.D. in paleobiology from the University of Illinois in 1974 and completed his post-doctoral research at Birkbeck College as a Fulbright-Hays Fellow.[2]
Career
After working as a curator at the New York Botanical Garden, Niklas joined the Cornell University faculty in 1978. He was promoted to full professor in 1985 and appointed Liberty Hyde Bailey Professor in 2000. Niklas served as president of the Botanical Society of America from 2008 to 2009 and as editor-in-chief of the American Journal of Botany from 1995 to 2004.[2] He has published over 480 peer-reviewed papers and authored five books on plant biology topics.[5] He was elected as a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2015.[6][7]
Selected works
Books
- Plant Biomechanics, 1992 (ISBN 978-0226586311)
- Plant Allometry: The Scaling of Form and Process, 1994 (ISBN 978-0226580814)[8]
- The Evolutionary Biology of Plants, 1997 (ISBN 978-0226580838)[9]
- Plant Physics, 2012 (co-authored with Hanns-Christof Spatz) (ISBN 978-0226586328)
- Plant Evolution: An Introduction to the History of Life, 2016 (ISBN 978-0-226-34214-6)
- The Origins of Life: from Abiotic Chemistry to the first Cells. Karl J. Niklas, Thomas G. Owens, and Randy Wayne. 2025
Awards and distinctions
- John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship[2][10]
- The Botanical Society of America’s Centennial Medal [2]
- Alexander von Humboldt Stiftung prize for senior USA scientists [2]
- Elected Fellow, American Academy of Arts and Sciences[6]
- Elected Fellow, American Association for the Advancement of Science