Some Biogeographers, Evolutionists and Ecologists:
Chrono-Biographical Sketches
Fosberg, F(rancis) Raymond (United
States 1908-1993)
botany, floristics
 Photo courtesy Dan Garnitz, findagrave.com |
Fosberg was a botanist especially noted for his work on tropical and Pacific basin vegetation. His many years of study of the floras of places as geographically diverse as Sri Lanka, South America, and many Pacific islands led to his issuance of several hundred scientific publications; he was also the founder and editor of Atoll Research Bulletin, a well-known and frequently consulted conservationist, and a several time organizer of major scientific conferences. He was associated at various times with the U. S. Department of Agriculture, United States Geological Survey, and Smithsonian Institution. Fosberg is thought to have visited more Pacific islands during the twentieth century than any other man. |
Life Chronology
--born in Spokane, Washington, on 20 May 1908.
--1929: publishes first scientific paper
--1930: B.A., Pomona College
--1935: M.S., University of Hawaii
--1939: Ph.D. in botany, University of Pennsylvania
--1939-1942: assistant botanist, USDA
--1942-1945: investigates cinchona tree resources
in South America (for quinine)
--1947: Guggenheim fellow
--1948: publishes "Derivation of the Flora of
the Hawaiian Islands" in Insects of Hawaii; visiting professor
at the University of Hawaii
--1949-1950: research associate, Catholic University
of America
--1950, 1951, 1952, 1954: expeditions to Micronesia
--1950-1965: botanist, U. S. Geological Survey
--1960-1966: vice-president, International Society
for Tropical Ecology; made president in 1967
--1961-1964: chairman, committee on humid tropics
research, UNESCO
--1963: editor of Man's Place in the Island
Ecosystem; a Symposium
--1966: joins the Smithsonian Institution
as a special advisor on tropical botany
--1971: receives H. E. Gregory medal, Pacific
Science Congress
--1978: retires from the Smithsonian Institution
as emeritus botanist
--dies at Falls Church, Virginia, on 25 September
1993.
For Additional Information, See:
--Environmental Conservation, Vol. 21(3)
(1994): 197-198.
--New York Times, 29 September 1993.
--Taxon, Vol. 43(1) (1994):
140-142.
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Copyright 2005 by Charles H. Smith. All rights
reserved.
http://people.wku.edu/charles.smith/chronob/FOSB1908.htm
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