Chester A. Arnold

Who was Chester A. Arnold?

Chester Arthur Arnold was an American paleobotanist, born June 25, 1901 in Leeton, Missouri and died on 19 November 1977.

He was the son of farmers Elmer and Edith Arnold. Arnolds family moved to Ludlowville, New York and he attended Cornell University with the intent to study agriculture. Interaction with Loren Petry, a Cornell professor studying Devonian plants of the region, lead to Arnold shifting his focus to paleobotany. He received his Bachelor of Science at in 1924, his Ph.D. in 1929 with his thesis on Devonian megafloral paleobotany. He started working at the Faculty of Botany, University of Michigan from 1928 and became curator of the collection of fossil plants in 1929. Arnold became a professor in 1947. He maintained close relations with researchers in India, being a friend of Birbal Sahni, of the Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeobotany and served his year in residence from 1958-1959 at the institute. Arnold was a member of many learned societies and was the author of the Introduction to Paleobotany published in 1947.