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Marine Botanist Isabella Aiona Abbott and More Women to Know this Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month | Smithsonian American Women’s History

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By Healoha Johnston of the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center and Sara Cohen of Because of Her Story

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Pioneering Professor is First Lady of Limu | Malamalama, The Magazine of the University of Hawai'i System

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Isabella Aiona Abbott is smitten with seaweeds. The world-renowned algae taxonomist and University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa ethnobotany professor emerita never met an alga she didn't like...well, excepting Gracilaria salicornia and Hypnea musciformis. Introduced species, the first smothers Hawaiʻi's reefs. The second, known as hookweed, damages native algae.

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Abbott, Isabella A. Lāʿau Hawaiʿi : Traditional Hawaiian Uses of Plants. Bishop Museum Press, 1992.

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The first Native Hawai'ian woman to earn a PhD in science, Isabella Aiona Abbott was one of the world's foremost authorities on limu, or the more than 70 edible varieties of seaweed. Her work won Abbott the accolade "First Lady of Limu." Also considered the foremost expert on central-Pacific algae, Abbott navigated an ocean of "firsts" for indigenous people through her 90 years (1919-2010).

Isabella Kauakea Yau Yung Aiona was born in Hana, Maui, where she spent hours during her childhood gathering seaweed for use in traditional Hawai'ian foods. She learned their uses - and fluent Hawai'ian - from her mother. After graduating from Kamehameha Schools in 1937, Abbott earned a bachelor's degree in botany from the University of Hawai'i in 1941 and a master's degree from the University of Michigan in 1942. She married zoologist Don Abbott, then obtained her PhD in algal taxonomy from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1950.

At that time academic jobs for female PhDs of any ethnicity were rare, so Abbott followed her husband to Stanford's Hopkins Marine Station in Pacific Grove, Calif. There she spent 10 years raising their daughter, Annie, and refining her seaweed culinary skills. (She also wrote a book about how to cook seaweed.) Finally, in 1960, she began work as a lecturer at Hopkins, and her keen scientific mind had a chance to shine. Celia Smith, professor of botany at the University of Hawai'i at Manoa, noted that Abbott became "without doubt, the preeminent marine botanist."

Abbott became the first female full professor in Stanford's biology department, as well as the first minority full professor, in 1972, bypassing the normal tenure track due to her exceptional record. In 1976, she wrote Marine Algae of California, which Dave Epel, professor emeritus of biology at Stanford, characterized as "the definitive description of marine algae along the Pacific coast." Altogether, Abbott penned eight books and more than 150 articles.

In 1982, the couple retired to Hawai'i, where Abbott joined the University of Hawai'i at Manoa and taught Hawai'ian ethnobotany. Thanks to her work, the university created a bachelor's degree in this subject.

The National Academy of Sciences honored Abbott with its highest award in marine botany, the Gilbert Morgan Smith Medal, in 1997. Abbott was named a Living Treasure of Hawaii, and she was given the opportunity to name a National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration research ship, the Hi'ialakai. Abbott continued working at UH Manoa until her death in October 2010.

In a video shot just before she died, Abbott described her Native perspective through the window of her book, La'au Hawai'i: Traditional Hawaiian Uses of Plants. "I look upon it as a Western scientist's viewpoint of the Hawai'ian way of doing things," she said. "Why is this necessary? So that Hawai'ians are not put in second- or third-class status of Native people who don't know anything. Hawai'ian culture is unbelievably sophisticated."

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Isabella Aiona Abbott Becoming The "First Lady of Limu"

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The first Native Hawai'ian woman to earn a PhD in science, Isabella Aiona Abbott was one of the world's foremost authorities on limu, or the more than 70 edible varieties of seaweed. Her work won Abbott the accolade "First Lady of Limu."

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Isabella Aiona Abbott | Long Story Short with Leslie Wilcox

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https://www.britannica.com/topic/Women-in-Science-2100321/World-War-II-and-social-changes

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Women in Science - WWII, Social Change | Britannica

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Women in Science - WWII, Social Change: During World War II (1939–45), women undertook many roles that were previously exclusively male, including roles as scientific researchers. American crystallographer Isabella L. Karle developed processes to isolate plutonium chloride from impure plutonium oxide while working on the Manhattan Project. American mathematician Grace Murray Hopper worked for the U.S. Navy as one of the first computer programmers, and American biologist Rachel Carson worked for the U.S. Bureau of Fisheries (from 1940 the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service) as an aquatic biologist. In the postwar years many female wartime workers returned to the domestic sphere, unlike Hopper and Carson, who maintained

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https://www.communitycommons.org/entities/ff26ecd2-1fbf-4aba-b7a3-c645aa3084bd

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People gather knowledge for a wide range of purposes, including for survival, well-being, and cultural, economic, and technological developments. Indigenous knowledge-or traditional knowledge-refers to information, meanings, purposes, and values that Indigenous peoples have gathered, conceptualized, studied, and passed through generations for thousands of years. Indigenous knowledge offers solutions to some of the world's most pressing issues, from environmental crises and declining biodiversity , to equity, justice, and holistic health systems.

Despite the power of traditional knowledge, throughout history, it has been criticized, , through cultural assimilation, and purposely destroyed in favor of Western, Eurocentric views. Prior to colonization, Indigenous ways of knowing formed the basis of all aspects of Indigenous life, including language, culture, spirituality, architecture, agriculture, and technology. During colonization, the racist devaluing and destruction of Indigenous knowledge served as a key justification for Native American cultural assimilation and genocide. Over hundreds of years, these colonial practices have created unsustainable development patterns, which now harm all people, but continue to disproportionately harm Indigenous and marginalized peoples.

Through negotiations, battles over stolen lands, the Red Power Movement of the 1960's, and hundreds of other public and private protests, Indigenous peoples have worked tirelessly to maintain Indigenous ways of knowing and being since the advent of colonization. Today, Native American communities and activists are leading a powerful renewal of Indigenous culture, knowledge, and identity. From language revitalization and the renewal of spiritual practices and ceremonies , to Indigenous leadership in environmental crises , the resurgence of Indigenous food sovereignty , and the reclaiming of Two-Spirit identities , Indigenous knowledge is slowly being recentered. Due to geographic location and lack of resources and funding, renewal efforts are not always accessible to all Indigenous peoples in the United States. I ndigenous peoples who live in rural areas-most Native American reservations-often lack the infrastructure and resources for programs to preserve and cultivate Indigenous knowledge. Indigenous peoples living in urban areas often lack cultural centers and gathering spaces to share community, identity, and knowledge.

Centering Indigenous knowledge has the power to advance equity for Indigenous communities and society as a whole. Supporting this change at scale means a significant cultural shift to genuinely valuing traditional knowledge and lived experience as equal to-and sometimes even superior to-knowledge from professionally trained experts or modern scientific sources. This shift requires deeply uprooting racist, colonialist, and Eurocentric assumptions, biases, and values that perpetuate oppression and abuse. Communities and stewards can advance equity and well-being for Indigenous and other marginalized communities by uplifting Indigenous knowledge, centering Indigenous perspectives and people, and funding Indigenous communities and renewal programs.

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People gather knowledge for a wide range of purposes, including for survival, well-being, and cultural, economic, and technological developments. Indigenous knowledge-or traditional knowledge-refers to information, meanings, purposes, and values that Indigenous peoples have gathered, conceptualized, studied, and passed through generations for thousands of years.