Herbert Kenneth Airy Shaw (7 April 1902 – 1985) was a notable

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botanist and

classicist Classics or classical studies is the study of classical antiquity. In the Western world, classics traditionally refers to the study of Classical Greek and Roman literature and their related original languages, Ancient Greek and Latin. Cla ...

. Airy Shaw was born at The Mount, Grange Road, Woodbridge, Suffolk to a father serving as Second Master at the Woodbridge Grammar School and a mother descended from George Biddell Airy, Astronomer Royal (1835–1881). In 1921 he entered Corpus Christi College,

Cambridge University , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

, to read classics, but he switched to natural sciences, taking his degree in 1924 and finishing in 1925, then taking a position at Kew Gardens. He became an expert on tropical Asian botany and on entomology.

Selected works

* ''The Euphorbiaceae of Borneo'', Her Majesty's Stationery Office, 1975. . * ''The Euphorbiaceae of New Guinea'', Her Majesty's Stationery Office, 1980. . * ''A Dictionary of the Flowering Plants and Ferns'', 8th Edition. Cambridge University Press, 1973.

References

List of Australian Plant Collectors and Illustrators

Obituary, H. K. Airy Shaw, 1902–1985, by A. Radcliffe-Smith and R. M. Harley
English botanists English entomologists 1902 births 1985 deaths Botanists active in Kew Gardens Alumni of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge People from Woodbridge, Suffolk 20th-century British botanists 20th-century British zoologists {{UK-entomologist-stub