Douglas Houghton Campbell

Who was Douglas Houghton Campbell?

Douglas Houghton Campbell was an American botanist and university professor. He was one of the 15 founding professors at Stanford University. His death was described as "the end of an era of a group of great plant morphologists."

Campbell was born and raised in Detroit, Michigan. His father, J. V. Campbell, was a member of the Supreme Court of the state of Michigan and a law professor at the University of Michigan. Douglas Campbell graduated from Detroit High School in 1878, going on to study at the University of Michigan. He studied botany, learning new microscopy techniques, and becoming interested in cryptogramic ferns. He received his Masters degree in 1882, and taught botany at Detroit High School while he completed his PhD research. He received his PhD in 1886, then travelled to Germany to learn more microscopy techniques. He developed a technique to embed plant material in paraffin to make fine cross-sections; he was one of the first if not the first to study plant specimens using this technique, which had been newly developed by zoologists. He was also a pioneer in the study of microscopic specimens using vital stains.