American lecturer in history and botany. An extremely well-read man, Edward Tuckerman published many articles on a range of topics but was particularly interested in the lichen of North America. Originally from Boston he studied at Ingraham's School and the Boston Latin School before entering Union College in 1834. Receiving his BA in 1837 he decided to study law and was awarded an LLB from Harvard Law School in 1839. At this time his interest in lichenology began and Tuckerman took his first excursions into the White Mountains, a region which he would come to know like no other.

After studying history, philosophy and botany in Germany for several years he returned to Harvard to gain an MA and later received an LLD from Amherst College (Massachusetts). Tuckerman would remain at Amherst for the rest of his life, lecturing in history (1854-1855 and 1858-1873), oriental history (1855-1858) and botany, which he chaired from 1858. As a scholar and writer he published a great deal, producing 42 articles between 1834 and 1842 (many of which were in the Churchman), covering biography, criticism and theology.

As a research botanist Tuckerman studied lichen systematics and floristics; publishing works on this taxon throughout North America he produced the first descriptive list of the lichen of British North America in 1848. This contained descriptions of 295 species and was followed by his exsiccatae series of 150 lichen specimens, mostly from the White Mountains. Tuckerman also studied the lichen specimens collected by other botanists such as Charles Wright's material from Cuba, Horace Mann's collection from Hawaii and specimens from the Wilkes Expedition (the United States Exploring Expedition). Most important, however, was probably his Genera Lichenum (1872) which was the culmination of all of his research in this field. Tuckerman married Sarah Eliza Sigourney in 1854 and they had no children. A ravine in the White Mountains bears his name as does the Asteraceae genus Tuckermannia Nutt.

Sources:
Anon, 1886, Proceedings of the American Academy Arts and Sciences, 21: 539-547
H. Willey, 1886, "Edward Tuckerman", Botanical Gazette 11: 74-78.