Dr. Isabella Kauakea Aiona Abbott, Botanist who Honored Her Culture and Discovered over 200 Species of Pacific Algae
Turned her mother’s early teachings about seaweed into an exceptional scientific career spanning 60 years, earning her the nickname “First Lady of Limu.”
With thanks to Dr. Celia M. Smith (Professor of Botany and Co-Director, Marine Biology Graduate Program) and Dr. Clifford Morden (Professor of Botany, Director of School of Life Sciences), University of Hawaii at Manoa.
Written by shift7, published here with permission.
As we begin a new year and a new decade, we are joining shift7 to elevate 20 stories of extraordinary achievements by women. We will feature one story per day for the first 20 days of 2020 (#20for2020).
When she was a young girl, Isabella Kauakea Aiona Abbott’s mother taught her about seaweed. Isabella, known to her family as “Izzie,” lived on the Hawaiian island of Oʻahu, and her mother — a native Hawaiian — would take her to the shore to collect seaweed for use in cooking many traditional Hawaiian dishes. Her mother’s early teachings clearly stuck with Isabella; at age 31, she graduated with her doctorate in Botany (focused on seaweed and algae) from the University of California, Berkeley, as the first Native Hawaiian to earn a PhD in science.¹ Her scientific work included authoring 8 books, organizing and editing 9 volumes from SeaGrant international workshops and more than 160 research papers. In her 60 year career, she discovered more than 200 different species of algae, one of which being Peleophycus. She named Peleophycus after the goddess of volcanoes, Pele, because the plant looked like tongues of lava, underwater. Dr. Abbott was recognized as a world leader in Pacific seaweeds and Hawaiian uses of plants.²
Dr. Abbott’s first academic job was to join the faculty at Stanford University, where she earned a number of prizes and honors, including the National Academy of Sciences’ highest award in Marine Botany, the Gilbert Morgan Smith Medal.³ After their Stanford decades, the Doctors Abbott — Izzie and husband Don — moved back to Hawai‘i where she was appointed as the Wilder Chair, an endowed Professorship in Botany, at the University of Hawai‘i. Dr. Abbott took on teaching an introductory course, Botany 105, for students who wanted to know how Hawaiians traditionally used plants. In this course, she told the stories of her Hawaiian family and the traditions she learned from her Grandmother’s brother, Samuel Kailihou, to a lecture hall filled to overflowing with excited students, for more than a decade.
Because of her dedication to her culture and deep scientific expertise, Izzie was also given the nickname “The First Lady of Limu.” She shared,
“I call the endemic plants the first Hawaiians. This is their home. It’s like the Hawaiian people, they belong here.”
In discussing the importance of limu kala, a Hawaiian seaweed, she remarked,
“People eat it, turtles eat it. And kala means ‘to forgive.’ ”⁴
Hers is the only culture where conflict resolution among family members can be started by bringing a piece of limu kala, a symbol of forgiveness, to a family.
For Dr. Abbott, there were no boundaries between her culture, her science and her curiosity. She excelled because she worked hard and expected the same from the many students she taught. Perhaps her greatest legacy is those indelible expectations.
“She was the single most influential person in my life,” commented one of those students recently. ⁵ “She taught me to try your hardest to be your best. Don’t let others hold you back.”
Studying science meant understanding culture, celebrating heritage, and honoring the planet. Before she died, Isabella spoke on the importance of her perspective as a Native Hawaiian in science. She researched and wrote of traditional uses by her culture from a Western scientist’s viewpoint, in the interest of helping all to understand that “Hawaiian culture is unbelievably sophisticated.” ⁵
Online interviews with Dr. Abbott:
You can visit Dr. Abbott’s story in person too:
- Hana, Hawaii (birthplace)
- University of Hawai‘i, Mānoa — Honolulu, Hawai‘i (Where she received her BA in Botany in 1941.)
- University of Michigan, Ann Arbor — Ann Arbor, Michigan (Where she received her MS in 1942.)
- University of California, Berkeley –- Berkeley, California (Where she received her PhD in 1950.)
Media needs to regularly represent the innovative work of diverse individuals and teams in an empowering manner in order to shift the public mindset to one that respects that there is innovation talent in all people, including in STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics). Surfacing diverse talent will help empower current solution makers to learn or team up with colleagues who can create and use these tools, thereby accelerating progress on societal challenges.
