Alf Erling Porsild (1901–1977) was a Danish-Canadian botanist.

Biography

He was born in

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a population of 1.4 million in the Urban area of Copenhagen, urban area. The city is situated on the islands of Zealand and Amager, separated from Malmö, Sweden, by the ...

as a son of the botanist M.P. Porsild. He grew up on the Arctic Station in

Qeqertarsuaq Qeqertarsuaq (, historically known as Godhavn) is a port and town in Qeqertalik municipality, located on the south coast of Disko Island on the west coast of Greenland. Founded in 1773, the town is now home to a campus of the University of Cop ...

, West

Greenland Greenland is an autonomous territory in the Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark. It is by far the largest geographically of three constituent parts of the kingdom; the other two are metropolitan Denmark and the Faroe Islands. Citizens of Greenlan ...

, where he acted as assistant to his father. Between 1936 and 1945, he was

curator A curator (from , meaning 'to take care') is a manager or overseer. When working with cultural organizations, a curator is typically a "collections curator" or an "exhibitions curator", and has multifaceted tasks dependent on the particular ins ...

at the

National Museum of Canada The national museums of Canada () are the nine museums in Canada designated under the federal ''Museums Act'' and operated by the Government of Canada. The national museums are responsible for "preserving and promoting the heritage of Canada and al ...

, Ottawa, and from 1945 to 1967 he was head of the department of

botany 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 ...

there. He authored over 100 scientific articles on the

flora Flora (: floras or florae) is all the plant life present in a particular region or time, generally the naturally occurring (indigenous (ecology), indigenous) native plant, native plants. The corresponding term for animals is ''fauna'', and for f ...

of the

Canadian Arctic Archipelago The Arctic Archipelago, also known as the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, is an archipelago lying to the north of the Canadian continental mainland, excluding Greenland (an autonomous territory of the Danish Realm, which is, by itself, much larger ...

and of the

Rocky Mountains The Rocky Mountains, also known as the Rockies, are a major mountain range and the largest mountain system in North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch in great-circle distance, straight-line distance from the northernmost part of Western Can ...

, as well as numerous popular papers and books, including important flora of Canada's Arctic and northern regions. He made over 25,000 plant collections (numbers), resulting in over 100,000 specimens which are deposited in the National Herbarium of Canada (CAN) at the Canadian Museum of Nature, Ottawa, and in other herbaria around the world. Porsild was hired to take part in the

Canadian Reindeer Project Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

to bring reindeer-herding to the indigenous populations of northern Canada in the hopes of building a sustainable industry. He borrowed the term ''

pingo Pingos are intrapermafrost ice-cored hills, high and in diameter. They are typically conical in shape and grow and persist only in permafrost environments, such as the Arctic and subarctic. A pingo is a Periglaciation, periglacial landform, ...

'' from the

Inuit Inuit (singular: Inuk) are a group of culturally and historically similar Indigenous peoples traditionally inhabiting the Arctic and Subarctic regions of North America and Russia, including Greenland, Labrador, Quebec, Nunavut, the Northwe ...

and made it a scientific and vernacular term (first used in 1938). Porsild Pingo in

Tuktoyaktuk Tuktoyaktuk ( ; , ) is an Inuvialuit hamlet near the Mackenzie River delta in the Inuvik Region of the Northwest Territories, Canada, at the northern terminus of the Inuvik–Tuktoyaktuk Highway.Montgomery, Marc"Canada now officially connected ...

is named in his honor, as well as Mount Porsild in the

Yukon Territory Yukon () is a territory of Canada, bordering British Columbia to the south, the Northwest Territories to the east, the Beaufort Sea to the north, and the U.S. state of Alaska to the west. It is Canada’s westernmost territory and the smallest ...

. Porsild's starwort (''Stellaria porsildii''), a plant native to mountains in Arizona and New Mexico, is also named in his honor.

Legacy

The Canadian Botanical Association awards annually the 'Alf Erling Porsild Award', in recognition of the best paper published in the field of systematics and phytogeography that year by a graduate student in a Canadian university or a Canadian student in a foreign university. Porsild was awarded the

Massey Medal The Royal Canadian Geographical Society (RCGS) awards the Massey Medal annually to recognize outstanding personal achievement in the exploration, development or description of the geography of Canada. The award was established in 1959, by the M ...

by the

Royal Canadian Geographical Society The Royal Canadian Geographical Society (RCGS; French: ''Société géographique royale du Canada'') is a Canadian nonprofit educational organization. It has dedicated itself to spreading a broader knowledge and deeper appreciation of Canada, i ...

in 1966. He was awarded the George Lawson Medal by the Canadian Botanical Association in 1971. He was portrayed by

Colm Feore Colm Joseph Feore (; born August 22, 1958) is a Canadian actor. A 15-year veteran of the Stratford Festival, he is known for his Gemini-winning turn as Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau in the CBC miniseries '' Trudeau'' (2002), his portrayal of ...

Peter Lynch Peter Lynch (born January 19, 1944) is an American investor, mutual fund manager, author and philanthropist. As the manager of the Magellan Fund at Fidelity Investments between 1977 and 1990, Lynch averaged a 29.2% annual return, consistently m ...

's 1998 documentary film '' The Herd''.Bonnie Malleck, "A stirring look at the Arctic; TV tonight; The Herd traces the true story of six-year trek". ''

Hamilton Spectator ''The Hamilton Spectator'', founded in 1846, is a newspaper published weekdays and Saturdays in Hamilton, Ontario, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. One of the largest Canadian newspapers by circulation, ''The Hamilton Spectator'' is owned by Torstar. ...

'', October 4, 2001.

Selected works

*Porsild, A.E. (1920) Sur le poids et les dimensions des graines arctiques. ''Revue Générale de Botanique'' 32: 97–120. *Porsild, A.E. (1926) Contributions to the Flora of West-Greenland at 70°-71°45´ N. lat. ''

Meddelelser om Grønland ''Meddelelser om Grønland'' ("''Communications on Greenland''") is a Danish scientific journal, scientific periodical which publishes scientific results from all fields of research on Greenland. It was established by Frederik Johnstrup and publi ...

'' vol. 58 (2) *Porsild, Erling (1936
The Reindeer Industry and the Canadian Eskimo
''The Geographical Journal'', 88.1: 1–17. *Porsild, A.E. (1938) Earth mounds in unglaciated arctic northwestern America. ''The Geographical Review'' 28: 46–58. *Porsild, A.E. (1941) A relic flora on sand dunes from the

Champlain Sea The Champlain Sea () was a prehistoric inlet of the Atlantic Ocean into the North American continent, created by the retreating ice sheets during the closure of the last glacial period. The inlet once included lands in what are now the Canadi ...

in the Ottawa Valley. ''The Canadian Field-Naturalist'' 55: 66–72
Full text
*Porsild, A.E. (1943) Materials for a flora of the continental Northwest Territories of Canada. ''Sargentia'' 4: 1–79. *Porsild, A.E. (1945) Mammals of the Mackenzie Delta. ''Canadian Field-Naturalist'' 59: 4–22. *Porsild, A.E. (1950) Vascular plants of Nueltin Lake, Northwest Territories. National Museum of Canada Bulletin 118: 72–83. *Porsild, A.E. (1951) Botany of Southeastern Yukon adjacent to the

Canol Road The Canol Road was part of the Canol Project and was built to construct a pipeline from Norman Wells, Northwest Territories southwest to Whitehorse, Yukon, during World War II. The pipeline no longer exists, but the long Yukon portion of th ...

. Bulletin /

vol. 121 (also Biological series /

vol. 41), 400 pp. *Porsild, A.E. (1951) Plant life in the Arctic. ''Canadian Geographical Journal'' 42: 120–145. *Porsild, A.E. (1951) A biological exploration of Banks and Victoria Islands. National Museum of Canada Bulletin 123: 133–138 (reprinted from ''Arctic Circular'', 1950). *Porsild, A.E. (1953) Edible plants of the Arctic. Illustrated by

Dagny Tande Lid Dagny Tande Lid (25 May 1903 – 28 January 1998) was a Norwegian painter, illustrator and poet. She is most noted for her drawings of plants and is known for her own illustrated poetry collections and for her botanical illustrations of Norwegia ...

. ''The Arctic'' 6: 15–34
Full text
*Porsild, A.E. (1955) The vascular plants of the Western Canadian Arctic archipelago. Bulletin /

vol. 135 (also Biological series /

vol. 45), 226 pp. *Porsild, A.E. (1957) Illustrated Flora of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Illustrated by

. Bulletin /

vol. 146. 209 pp. *Porsild, A.E. 1958. Geographical distribution of some elements in the flora of Canada. ''Geographical Bulletin'' 11: 57–77. *Porsild, A.E. 1963. ''Stellaria longipes'' Goldie and its allies in North America. National Museum of Canada Bulletin 186: 1–35. *Porsild, A.E. 1964. Illustrated flora of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago (2nd edition, revised). National Museum of Canada Bulletin 146: 1–218. *Porsild, A. E. 1965. Some new or critical vascular plants of Alaska and Yukon. ''Canadian Field-Naturalist'' 79: 79–90. *Porsild, A. E. 1966. Contributions to the flora of southwestern Yukon Territory. National Museum of Canada Bulletin 216: 1–86. *Porsild, A.E., C.R. Harington & G.A. Mulligan (1967) '' Lupinus arcticus'' Wats. grown from seeds of

Pleistocene The Pleistocene ( ; referred to colloquially as the ''ice age, Ice Age'') is the geological epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was fin ...

age. ''Science'' 158 (3797): 113–114

*Porsild, A.E. and W.J. Cody. (1968) Checklist of the vascular plants of continental Northwest Territories, Canada. Canada Department of Agriculture, Ottawa. 102 pp. *Cody, W.J. and A.E. Porsild. (1968) Additions to the flora of continental Northwest Territories, Canada. ''Canadian Field-Naturalist'' 82: 263–275. *Porsild, A. E. 1974. Materials for a flora of central Yukon Territory. National Museums of Canada, National Museum of Natural Sciences, Publications in Botany, No. 4. 77 pp. *Porsild, A.E. (1974) Rocky Mountain wild flowers. Illustrated by

. Ottawa, National Museum of Natural Sciences, 454 pp. *Porsild A.E. & Cody, William J. (1980) ''Vascular plants of continental Northwest Territories'', Canada. Ottawa, National Museum of Natural Sciences, 667 pp.

References

Soper, J.H. and W.J. Cody. 1978. Alf Erling Porsild, M.B.E., F.R.S.C. (1901-1977). ''Canadian Field-Naturalist'' 92: 298–304.

External links

his is an open access book {{DEFAULTSORT:Porsild, A.Erling Botanists active in the Arctic 20th-century Danish botanists 20th-century Canadian botanists Danish expatriates in Canada Porsild, Erling Greenlandic emigrants to Canada 1977 deaths 1901 births Massey Medal recipients Scientists from Copenhagen People from Qeqertarsuaq