Karl J. Niklas
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Karl Joseph Niklas (born 1948) is a 'Liberty Hyde Bailey Professor Emeritus' in the section of Plant Biology, School of Integrative Plant Science at Cornell University.[1] His work is mainly focused on plant biomechanics, allometry, and functional morphology. He is also known for his contributions to understanding plant evolutionary biology, particularly early land plant evolutionary diversification patterns and morphospaces.[2]
Education
[edit]Niklas completed his undergraduate studies at the City College of New York. [3] He earned his Ph.D. in paleobiology from the University of Illinois in 1974 and carried out his postdoctoral work at Birkbeck College in London as a Fulbright-Hays Fellow.[2]
Career
[edit]Niklas, previously a curator at the New York Botanical Garden, joined the Cornell faculty in 1978. In 1985, he became a full-time professor and was appointed as a Liberty Hyde Bailey Professor in 2000. He has authored over 480 peer-reviewed scientific papers and five books,[4] and has received awards for teaching, such as the SUNY Chancellor's Award for teaching in 1995. In addition, he was a member of the Botanical Society of America and served as its president (2008 – 2009). He was the editor-in-chief of the American Journal of Botany (1995 – 2004).[2]
Selected works
[edit]Books
[edit]- Plant Biomechanics, 1992 (ISBN 978-0226586311)
- Plant Allometry: The Scaling of Form and Process, 1994 (ISBN 978-0226580814)[5]
- The Evolutionary Biology of Plants, 1997 (ISBN 978-0226580838)[6]
- 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)
Awards and distinctions
[edit]- John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship[2][7]
- 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
- Elected Fellow, American Association for the Advancement of Science
References
[edit]- ^ "Karl Joseph Niklas Faculty Page". Department of Plant Biology, Cornell University. 2007. Retrieved 11 February 2010.
- ^ a b c d e f "Purpose in Evolution: Participants". John Templeton Foundation. Archived from the original on 12 April 2010. Retrieved 11 February 2010.
- ^ "Curriculum Vitae" (PDF). Retrieved June 19, 2025.
- ^ "Karl Niklas | CALS". cals.cornell.edu. Retrieved 2025-05-21.
- ^ Klinkhamer, Peter G. L. (March 1995). "Plant allometry: The scaling of form and process : by Karl J. Niklas University of Chicago Press, 1994". Trends in Ecology & Evolution. 10 (3): 134. doi:10.1016/S0169-5347(00)89015-1.
- ^ Yee, Danny (August 1997). "The Evolutionary Biology of Plants, Karl J. Niklas". Danny Yee. Retrieved 11 February 2010.
- ^ "Karl J. Niklas". John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation. Archived from the original on 22 June 2011. Retrieved 11 February 2010.
- ^ International Plant Names Index. Niklas.
