Else Marie Friis

Else Marie Friis (born 18 June 1947) is a Danish botanist and paleontologist.[1] She is Professor Emerita in the Department of Geoscience at Aarhus University.[2] Her work has been fundamental in the phylogenetic analysis of angiosperms, with widespread application to reproductive biology.[3]

Else Marie Friis
Born (1947-06-18) 18 June 1947
Holstebro, Denmark
NationalityDenmark
Known forPalaeoecology
Scientific career
Fieldsbotany, paleontology
ThesisMicrocarpological Studies of Middle Miocene Floras of Western Denmark
Author abbrev. (botany)E.M.Friis

Education and early life

The daughter of a bookseller Poul Friis and Marie Møller, she was born in Holstebro, and grew up in Skive, graduating from local school Viborg Katedralskole in 1966. She worked as an au-pair in Paris for a year, becoming interested in geology whilst her brother Henrik was a student in the subject. This inspired her to become an assistant teacher in botany and geology in 1971.[1]

In 1975 she earned a Magister's degree in science and in 1980 a Licentiate's degree in science, both from Aarhus University.

Research and career

Her area of interest is the reproductive biology, phylogeny and palaeoecology of flowering plants based on plant reproductive organs from the Cretaceous period.[1][4]

Early on in her career she began research into lignite, being involved in fieldwork in the lignite mines in Central Jutland from 1968-1972. She was interested in the ecology and climate of Denmark in the middle Miocene, writing her Licentiate thesis on the subject.[5]

From 1980-1981 she moved to London as a British Council Research Scholar, switching research interests following the co-discovery with Swedish scientist Annie Skarby of rare fossilised flowers from the Cretaceous period.[6]

She returned to Aarhus University in 1981, co-publishing a book "The Origins of Angiosperms and Their Biological Consequences"[7] in 1987. She became the head of palaeobotany at the Swedish Museum of Natural History in Stockholm later that year.[3]

In 1999 she was awarded an honorary doctorate from Uppsala University, and has been a visiting professor at Zurich University.[8]

Awards and Associations

Friis is a member of the:

and a

She has received the:

  • Hans Gram Medal from the Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters in 1985
  • Nils Rosén Linné Prize in botany from the Royal Physiographic Society, Sweden in 1992
  • Rolf Dahlgren Prize in botany from the Royal Physiographic Society, Sweden in 2005
  • Denmark's Geology Prize 2011 with Kaj Raunsgaard Pedersen from the Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland
  • Linneus gold medal from the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in 2014
  • Knight 1st Class of the Order of the Polar Star

In addition, she was named Geologist of the year in 2005 by the Swedish Association of Scientists.[4]

References
  1. "Else Marie Friis (1947 - )". Dansk Kvindebiografisk Leksikon (in Danish).
  2. "Else Marie Friis - Research - Aarhus University". pure.au.dk. Retrieved 2020-01-20.
  3. "Else Marie Friis | Royal Society". royalsociety.org. Retrieved 2020-08-16.
  4. "Else Marie Friis". Swedish Museum of Natural History.
  5. Friis, Else Marie (1980). Microcarpological studies of middle miocene floras of Western Denmark. Aarhus Universitet, Det Naturvidenskabelige Fakultet. ISBN 9780521323574. OCLC 873194510.
  6. Friis, E. M.; Skarby, A. (June 1981). "Structurally preserved angiosperm flowers from the Upper Cretaceous of southern Sweden". Nature. 291 (5815): 484–486. doi:10.1038/291484a0. ISSN 0028-0836. S2CID 4270901.
  7. Lemoigne, Yves (January 1988). "The origins of angiosperms and their biological consequences". Geobios. 21 (1): 117. doi:10.1016/s0016-6995(88)80037-8. ISSN 0016-6995.
  8. System. "Else Marie Friis - Naturhistoriska riksmuseet". www.nrm.se. Retrieved 2020-08-16.
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