Herbert Kenneth Airy Shaw (7 April 1902 – 19 August 1985) was a notable English

botanist Botany, also called plant science, is the branch of natural science and biology studying plants, especially Plant anatomy, their anatomy, Plant taxonomy, taxonomy, and Plant ecology, ecology. A botanist or plant scientist is a scientist who s ...

and

classicist Classics, also classical studies or Ancient Greek and Roman studies, is the study of classical antiquity. In the Western world, ''classics'' traditionally refers to the study of Ancient Greek literature, Ancient Greek and Roman literature and ...

. He worked at Kew Gardens, as was an expert on tropical Asian botany and on

entomology Entomology (from Ancient Greek ἔντομον (''éntomon''), meaning "insect", and -logy from λόγος (''lógos''), meaning "study") is the branch of zoology that focuses on insects. Those who study entomology are known as entomologists. In ...

. The genus '' Airyantha'' is named for him.

Life

Airy Shaw was born at The Mount, Grange Road,

Woodbridge, Suffolk Woodbridge is a port town and civil parish in the East Suffolk District, East Suffolk district of Suffolk, England. It is up the River Deben from the sea. It lies north-east of Ipswich and around north-east of London. In 2011 it had a populat ...

to a father serving as Second Master at the Woodbridge Grammar School and a mother descended from

George Biddell Airy Sir George Biddell Airy (; 27 July 18012 January 1892) was an English mathematician and astronomer, as well as the Lucasian Professor of Mathematics from 1826 to 1828 and the seventh Astronomer Royal from 1835 to 1881. His many achievements inc ...

, Astronomer Royal (1835–1881). His younger sister was the illustrator Margaret Olive Milne-Redhead (also known as Olive Shaw). In 1921 he entered Corpus Christi College,

Cambridge University The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

, to read classics, but he switched to natural sciences, taking his degree in 1924 and finishing in 1925, having been a student of Humphrey Gilbert-Carter. He was an active member of the Cambridge Inter-Collegiate Christian Union.

Research

Airy Shaw took a position at

Kew Gardens Kew Gardens is a botanical garden, botanic garden in southwest London that houses the "largest and most diverse botany, botanical and mycology, mycological collections in the world". Founded in 1759, from the exotic garden at Kew Park, its li ...

after graduation, beginning as an unpaid volunteer in 1925. Initially he worked with William Dallimore and John Holland in the museum, and then moved to the Herbarium, where he worked with William Turrill and Cecil Marquand. During the war he was evacuated to Gloucester with the Kew collections, and there became interested in

Euphorbiaceae Euphorbiaceae (), the spurge family, is a large family of flowering plants. In English, they are also commonly called euphorbias, which is also the name of Euphorbia, the type genus of the family. Most spurges, such as ''Euphorbia paralias'', ar ...

. He resigned from Kew in 1952, by which time he had become Principal Scientific Officer and Kew's chief expert on nomenclature, with responsibility for the Index Kewensis. Returning to Kew in 1958, he continued working in the herbarium until his death in 1985, aged eighty three. Airy Shaw became an expert on tropical Asian botany and on

. The genus '' Airyantha'' is named for him.

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
{{DEFAULTSORT:Shaw, Airy 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