Born: 29 July 1874, United Kingdom
Died: 3 June 1951
Country most active: Australia
Also known as: Edith Harms
This biography has been shared from The Encyclopedia of Australian Science and Innovation, published by the Centre for Transformative Innovation, Swinburne University of Technology, under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Edith Coleman was a naturalist who wrote prolifically on a wide range of animals and published in both scientific journals and the popular press. Her particular interest was orchids, during the study of which she published a number of new species. She was first to observe and describe pseudocopulation, a pollination strategy whereby a flower, often an orchid, imitates a sexually receptive female insect and tricks the male into mating with it. Between 1926 and 1948 Coleman published 26 papers on the pollination of orchids. In 1949 she became the first woman to be awarded the Australian Natural History Medallion by the Field Naturalists Club of Victoria.
Chronology
1887
Life event – Migrated to Victoria with her family
1889 – 1898
Career position – Teacher in Victorian Government schools
1949
Award – Australian Natural History Medallion, Field Naturalists Club of Victoria
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