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Katherine Esau (3 April 1898 – 4 June 1997) was a Ukrainian-American botanist.

She was born in Yekaterinoslav, Russian Empire (now Dnipropetrovsk, Ukraine) to a family of Mennonites of German descent. After the Revolution her family moved to Germany, and then to California, where she achieved her doctorate in 1931.

Esau was a pioneering plant anatomist - perhaps the greatest plant anatomist of the 20th century. Her books Plant Anatomy and Anatomy of Seed Plants have been key plant structural biology texts for the last four decades.

She was the sixth woman elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 1957, and in 1989 she was awarded the National Medal of Science. The Katherine Esau Award is awarded to the graduate student who presents the best paper in structural and developmental biology at the annual meeting of the Botanical Society of America.

Katherine Esau was a gifted lecturer and author as well as a brilliant scientist. A kind and modest person, she never married and led a life full of scientific achievements, which inspires women scientists all over the world.

Esau died on 4 June 1997 in Santa Barbara, California, USA.

• Esau, Katherine, Anatomy Of Seed Plants, 2nd Ed, John Wiley & Sons, Inc (1977), ISBN 0-471-24520-8
• Evert, Ray F., Eichhorn, Susan E., Esau's Plant Anatomy: Meristems, Cells, and Tissues of the Plant Body: Their Structure, Function, and Development, John Wiley & Sons, Inc, (eBook 2006), ISBN 0-470-04737-2

• Evert, R.F. Katherine Esau (April 3, 1898 — June 4, 1997) Biographical Memoirs, National Academy of Sciences ;
• Stebbins, G.L. 1999. Katherine Esau (3 April 1898 – 4 June 1997). Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, VOL. 143 ;
• The Katherine Esau Award;
• O'Hern, Elizabeth Moot (1985) "Katherine Esau" Profiles of Pioneer Women Scientists Acropolis Books, Washington, D.C. ISBN 0-87491-811-1 ;

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