American mycologist at Michigan Agricultural College. Ernst Bessey was born in Ames, Iowa and moved with is family to Nebraska in 1884. After graduating from high school in 1892 he attended the University of Nebraska where his father, renowned botanist Charles Bessey, was a professor. Ernst received a BSc in 1897 and a master's degree the following year before spending 1902-1904 at the University of Halle, Germany, studying under Georg Klebs. At the end of this time Bessey was awarded a PhD and while in Europe also worked for the US Department of Agriculture exploring that industry in Russia, the Caucasus, Turkestan and Algeria, bringing back the date palm for cultivation in the States.

Continuing to work for the USDA on his return, Bessey spent two years in Washington DC before moving to Miami, Florida, where he worked as director of the Subtropical Laboratory. After a brief spell working as a professor at Louisiana State University (1908-1910) Bessey settled in Michigan at the Agricultural College where he worked as professor of botany and mycology. He also served as botanist at the Agricultural Experiment Station until his retirement in 1946 when he became professor emeritus.

During his career Bessey published a range of papers on mycological and phytopathological topics and in 1914 produced a text book entitled Essentials of Botany which was co-authored with his father. Later he published the first mycological text book, Morphology and Taxonomy of Fungi (two editions in 1935 and 1950) and at the time of his death was involved in producing a dictionary of agriculture with colleagues at Michigan State University. Much of Bessey's collecting took place on an extended trip to Hawaii where he worked between 1939 and 1940 as a visiting professor at the university. Here he studied and gathered specimens of many native fungi and brought back over 1,000 specimens. Bessey was married to Edith Carlton Higgins and he had two sons, both of which went on to become physics professors.

Sources:
H.L. Barnett, 1958, "Ernest Athearn Bessey", Mycologia, 50(1): 1-5
F.A. Stafleu and R.S. Cowan, 1976-1998, Taxonomic Literature, 2nd edition (TL-2).