F. Herbert Bormann (March 24, 1922 – June 7, 2012)[1] was an American plant ecologist whose 1971 research within the Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest in New Hampshire with fellow scientists was credited with the discovery of acid rain.
[2][3] His research was one of the major contributory factors towards changes made in the United States' Clean Air Act in 1990.
He studied for one semester at the University of Idaho before enlisting in the United States Navy following the outbreak of World War II.
In 1952 he traveled to the University of Minnesota's Lake Itasca Field Station to take an advanced course on plant pathology, where he was introduced to oak wilt and its vascular transmission through root grafts — this was the genesis of his interest in vascularity and root grafts.
[5] Later that year he went on to teach ecology on the faculties of Emory University (1952-1956), Dartmouth College (1956-1966), and the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies (1966-1992).