F. Herbert Bormann papers

Frederick Herbert Bormann (who used the name Herb) was born on March 24, 1922, in New York, New York. He initially enrolled at the University of Idaho but left after one semester in order to enlist in the United States Navy when the United States entered World War II. After working as a ship fitter and welder, he was selected for officer candidate school at Princeton University. After World War II, he earned his bachelor's degree in agricultural science from Rutgers University in 1948 and his doctorate in plant ecology from Duke University in 1952. He then worked at Emory University, where he taught botany from 1952 to 1956. He moved on to Dartmouth College in 1956 and assumed the position of Oastler Professor of Forest Ecology at Yale University's School of Forestry and Environmental Studies in 1966, where he remained for the rest of his career.

While at Dartmouth, he would take his classes on field trips to study plant life in White Mountain National Forest. He also conducted research at a hydrologic research site at Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest, opened in 1955. Bormann formed a partnership with Gene E. Likens and Noye Johnson from Dartmouth and Robert Pierce of the United States Forest Service to study a watershed within Hubbard Brook. He continued to travel to Hubbard Brook after he started teaching at Yale. His work on the Hubbard Brook Ecosystem Study and others, as well as research performed by other scientists who came to Hubbard Brook yielded a vast body of knowledge of the functions of ecosystems.

His work with Likens, Johnson, Pierce, and others also brought attention to the damage done by humans on these ecosystems. They studied the effects of clear-cutting, when lumber companies cut down every tree in a set area, on soil and water. This research showed that soil lacked important nutrients, and water levels and water quality decreased in these areas as well. They also studied chemical interactions in the ecosystem. Through this work, they discovered that the precipitation in the area was far more acidic than expected. Bormann and Likens also documented the effects of acidic precipitation on the ecosystem in Hubbard Brook, such as plant damage and fish kills. This work was used in the preparation of the Clean Air Act in 1990, which worked to reduce acid rain. Bormann retired from teaching in 1992, although he did continue to work on research as well as offer seminars and lectures on occasion. One of his later projects was studying traditional methods of caring for lawns and the problems fertilizers posed for the environment. He also was interested in suburbanization's effects on the ecology of an area and bridging public policy and environmental research.

Bormann won many prizes for his work over the years, including the Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement (which he shared with Likens), the National Wildlife Foundation's National Conservation Achievement Award in Science, and Yale's Aldo Leopold Award, which has only been given to one previous academic. He also was elected to the National Academy of Sciences at age 49, one of the youngest scientists to receive that honor. Bormann died on June 7, 2012. He was survived by his wife, M. Christine Williamson Bormann, four children, and six grandchildren.