Name William Smith | Fields Botany Books The Genus Primula | |
Born 2 February 1875
Lochmaben ( 1875-02-02 ) Institutions University of Edinburgh
Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh Alma mater University of Edinburgh Notable awards FRS (1945)
FRSE
Fellow of the Linnean Society
Victoria Medal of Honour
The Veitch Memorial Medal (1930) Author abbrev. (botany) Died December 15, 1956, Edinburgh, United Kingdom | ||
Education University of Edinburgh | ||
Sir William Wright Smith FRS FRSE FLS VMH LLD (2 February 1875 Lochmaben, Dumfriesshire – 15 December 1956) was a Scottish botanist and horticulturalist.
Contents
Life
He was born in Lochmaben, the son of James T. Smith.
Educated at Dumfries Academy and then University of Edinburgh, he studied at postgraduate level in Toulouse.
He rose to become from 1922 to 1956 the Queen's Botanist in Scotland, the 10th Regius Keeper of the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, Regius Professor of Botany at the University of Edinburgh.
Aberdeen University granted him an honorary doctorate (LLD). He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 1919, his proposers being Sir Isaac Bayley Balfour, James Hartley Ashworth and Donald Cameron McIntosh. He served as Secretary to the Society 1923-28, Vice-President 1928-31, President 1944-49 and won the Society's Makdougall-Brisbane Prize for 1940-42.
He was knighted in 1932 and elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1945.
Research
From 1907 until 1910, Smith went travelling in northern India with his nephew and ward, Roland Edgar Cooper FRSE, collecting samples in Sikkim, Nepal, Tibet and Bhutan. Cooper later took over from Smith in his role of Head Curator of the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh.
Smith is known for his research on:
Family
He was married to Emma Wiedhofft. In 1905 they took guardianship of their nephew, Roland Edgar Cooper.