![]() ![]() ![]() He grew into a man with an unquenchable thirst to succeed and accumulate wealth. Henry already knew much about plants from his father, and now he learned even more as he traveled to exotic locations around the world. Instead of having him hanged, as could have happened, his father's employer sent him on a ocean voyage to assist his plant collectors. Alma Whittaker, born in 1800 to the richest man in Philadelphia, grew up to become, in fact, a female counterpart to Charles Darwin in the century of Darwin, a time when the idea of a female scientist would have been laughed at.īefore we meet Alma, though, we meet her father, Henry Whittaker, a low-born Englishman who was banished because he stole plants from Kew Gardens, where his father worked as a plantsman. Elizabeth Gilbert of Eat, Pray, Love fame has written a remarkable novel featuring a remarkable woman of the 19th century. ![]()
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