Vivienne Cassie Cooper

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Vivienne Cassie Cooper
MNZM
Born
Una Vivienne Dellow

(1926-09-29)29 September 1926
Auckland, New Zealand
Died5 July 2021(2021-07-05) (aged 94)
Alma materVictoria University College
Spouses
Richard Morrison Cassie
​
​
(m. 1953; died 1974)​

Robert Cecil Cooper
​
​
(m. 1984; died 2004)​
Children2
Scientific career
Fields
InstitutionsDSIR
ThesisMarine algal ecology of the Hauraki Gulf, New Zealand (1954)
Author abbrev. (botany)Cassie

Una Vivienne Cassie Cooper MNZM (née Dellow; 29 September 1926 – 5 July 2021) was a New Zealand planktologist and botanist.

Early life[edit]

Cassie Cooper was born on 29 September 1926 in the Auckland suburb of Epsom to Annie Eveline Bell and her husband, Kenneth Dellow.[1] She was educated at Takapuna Grammar School, where her father was headmaster from 1935.[1][2] She received her Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts degrees from Auckland University College, and her PhD from Victoria University College.[3][4]

Career[edit]

In 1957, she made the first regional study of phytoplankton in New Zealand. Later in life, she focused more on aquatic botany, and was appointed a research scientist on freshwater algae in the Botany Division of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (DSIR). In her career, she wrote over fifty papers and several books, including Marine Phytoplankton in New Zealand Waters and Checklists of the Freshwater Diatoms of New Zealand. Cooper also published Micro Algae – Microscopic Marvels which she writes to appeal to a more popular readership.[5]

Cassie Cooper garnered several awards and titles for her accomplishments, including an honorary research associateship by the Botany Department at University of Auckland and the Botany Division of DSIR, and an honorary life membership of the New Zealand Limnological Society and the New Zealand Marine Science Society.[3][4] In the 1997 Queen's Birthday Honours, she was appointed a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to marine biology.[6] She was described as New Zealand's "leading expert" on diatoms.[5]

Cassie Cooper was a founding member of the Australasian Society for Phycology and Aquatic Botany, the International Society of Diatomists, and the Asian Pacific Phycological Association.[4] She retired in 1986.[5]

In 2017, Cassie Cooper was selected as one of the Royal Society Te Apārangi's "150 women in 150 words", celebrating the contributions of women to knowledge in New Zealand.[7]

The standard author abbreviation Cassie is used to indicate this person as the author when citing a botanical name.[8]

Personal life[edit]

In 1953, she married Richard Morrison Cassie, a fellow professor at the University of Auckland. They had two children. He died in 1974.[3] She married Robert Cecil Cooper, a botanist, in 1984. Cooper would also predecease her.[9]

Death[edit]

Cassie Cooper died on 5 July 2021.[1]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c Swainson, Richard (30 October 2021). "Obituary: Una Vivienne Cassie-Cooper, 1926–2021". Stuff. Retrieved 26 October 2022.
  2. ^ "New headmaster". Auckland Star. Vol. 66, no. 160. 9 July 1935. p. 9. Retrieved 26 October 2022.
  3. ^ a b c Haines, Catherine (2001). International Women in Science. 130 Cremona Drive, P.O. Box 1911 Santa Barbara, California, 93116-1911: ABC-CLIO, Inc. pp. 57–58. ISBN 9781576070901.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location (link)
  4. ^ a b c "Vivienne Cassie Cooper". Australasian Society for Phycology and Aquatic Botany. Retrieved 9 August 2017.
  5. ^ a b c Collins, Simon (4 May 2002). "An endangered species". The New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 18 February 2014.
  6. ^ "Queen's Birthday honours list 1997". Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. 2 June 1997. Retrieved 27 September 2019.
  7. ^ "Vivienne Cooper". Royal Society Te Apārangi. Retrieved 10 May 2021.
  8. ^ International Plant Names Index.  Cassie.
  9. ^ Catharine M.C. Haines, 'Women in Science, p.57
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