10 Facts About Estella Leopold

Estella Bergere Leopold was an American paleobotanist and a conservationist.

Estella Leopold graduated with a degree in botany from the University of Wisconsin in 1948, attained her master's in botany from the University of California, Berkeley in 1950, and completed a Ph.

At Yale, Estella Leopold began to specialize in studying pollen on a dare from an adviser.

Estella Leopold's research involved extracting pollen and spores from ancient rocks and sediments and comparing this evidence of fossil plants with those of modern specimens in order to infer what past landscapes and environments were like.

Estella Leopold made important findings about the effects of climate on the evolution and extinction of prehistoric plant species.

Estella Leopold's work included studying drilled cores containing pollen from the Miocene Epoch that revealed evidence of a tropical rainforest in the Eniwetok and Bikini Atoll area of the Pacific Ocean.

Estella Leopold served on the board and has been president of the Aldo Leopold Foundation in Baraboo, Wisconsin.

In 1969, Estella Leopold was awarded Conservationist-of-the-Year-Award by the Colorado Wildlife Federation.

Estella Leopold was elected to the prestigious National Academy of Sciences in 1974, and two years later she was awarded the Keep Colorado Beautiful annual award.

Estella Leopold died on February 25,2024, at a Seattle retirement home.