Alma Joslyn Whiffen-Barksdale

Alma Joslyn Whiffen-Barksdale was an American mycologist who discovered cycloheximide. She was born in Hammonton, New Jersey. She received a bachelor's degree from Maryville College (1937). During her time at Maryville College, she was an assistant in biology and botany, the Nature Club President, and received honor roll all four years. Her Masters and Ph.D. were earned at the University of North Carolina. In 1941-42. She was a Carnegie Fellow, and in 1951, she was a Guggenheim Fellow. Barksdale worked at the Department of Antibiotic Research of the Upjohn Company of Kalamazoo, Michigan (1943-52) and at the New York Botanical Garden. Barksdale became a foundational figure in the study of Achlya, a genus of aquatic fungi with a unique reproductive system, while working at the New York Botanical Garden; The Mycological Society of America and the Achlya Newsletter, a publication of continuing research on Achlya, both published retrospectives on her life and work following her death in 1981.