Dr Dukinfield Henry Scott FRS H

FRSE Fellowship of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (FRSE) is an award granted to individuals that the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Scotland's national academy of science and Literature, letters, judged to be "eminently distinguished in their subject". ...

LLD (28 November 1854 – 29 January 1934) was a British

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 ...

. Scott was born in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

on 28 November 1854, the fifth and youngest son of architect Sir

George Gilbert Scott Sir George Gilbert Scott (13 July 1811 – 27 March 1878), largely known as Sir Gilbert Scott, was a prolific English Gothic Revival architect, chiefly associated with the design, building and renovation of churches and cathedrals, although he ...

and his wife Caroline Oldrid.

Scientific career

Scott studied Natural Sciences at

Christ Church, Oxford Christ Church (, the temple or house, ''wikt:aedes, ædes'', of Christ, and thus sometimes known as "The House") is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Founded in 1546 by Henry V ...

, graduating B.A. 1876 ( M.A. 1872), and then as a postgraduate at Würzburg University in Germany, where he studied under the famous botanist Julius von Sachs, and earned his

doctorate A doctorate (from Latin ''doctor'', meaning "teacher") or doctoral degree is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism '' licentia docendi'' ("licence to teach ...

. In 1882, Scott was appointed Assistant to the Professor of Botany at

University College London University College London (Trade name, branded as UCL) is a Public university, public research university in London, England. It is a Member institutions of the University of London, member institution of the Federal university, federal Uni ...

, and in 1885 as Assistant Professor in Biology (Botany) at the Royal College of Science, South Kensington. He was the first lecturer in botany at University College who allowed women to attend his classes. One of his most brilliant students was Harold Wager, who went on to become a Fellow of the

Royal Society of London The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, r ...

in 1904. In 1892, Scott was appointed the first Keeper of the Jodrell Laboratory at the

Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew is a non-departmental public body in the United Kingdom sponsored by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. An internationally important botanical research and education institution, it employs 1,10 ...

, a position he held for fourteen years until 1906, under the Directorship of the botanist William Turner Thiselton-Dyer, one of his early mentors. Throughout his life, Scott published many books and papers on botany and palaeobotany in scientific journals. He worked closely with specialists in

paleobotany Paleobotany or palaeobotany, also known as paleophytology, is the branch of botany dealing with the recovery and identification of plant fossils from geological contexts, and their use for the biological reconstruction of past environments ( pal ...

such as William Crawford Williamson and Francis Wall Oliver. He supported the education of women and was the first lecturer in botany at University College who allowed women to attend his classes.

Honours and awards

In addition to his research, Scott provided considerable service to the wider scientific community. He was General Secretary of the British Association from 1900 to 1903, and President of the

Royal Microscopical Society The Royal Microscopical Society (RMS) is a learned society for the promotion of microscopy. It was founded in 1839 as the Microscopical Society of London making it the oldest organisation of its kind in the world. In 1866, the Society gained it ...

from 1904 to 1906. He was the Botanical Secretary of the

Linnean Society The Linnean Society of London is a learned society dedicated to the study and dissemination of information concerning natural history, evolution, and taxonomy. It possesses several important biological specimen, manuscript and literature collec ...

from 1902 to 1908 and its President from 1908 to 1912. He was President of the Paleobotanical Section of the International Botanical Congress at Cambridge in 1930. Scott received many awards and honours. He was elected a

Fellow of the Royal Society Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the Fellows of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural science, natural knowledge, incl ...

in June 1894 and a member of the

Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences () is one of the Swedish Royal Academies, royal academies of Sweden. Founded on 2 June 1739, it is an independent, non-governmental scientific organization that takes special responsibility for promoting nat ...

in 1916. In 1930 he was elected an Honorary Fellow of the

Royal Society of Edinburgh The Royal Society of Edinburgh (RSE) is Scotland's national academy of science and letters. It is a registered charity that operates on a wholly independent and non-partisan basis and provides public benefit throughout Scotland. It was establis ...

. He was awarded the

Royal Medal The Royal Medal, also known as The Queen's Medal and The King's Medal (depending on the gender of the monarch at the time of the award), is a silver-gilt medal, of which three are awarded each year by the Royal Society. Two are given for "the mo ...

of the Royal Society in 1906, the

Gold Medal A gold medal is a medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture. Since the eighteenth century, gold medals have b ...

of the Linnean Society in 1921, the

Darwin Medal The Darwin Medal is one of the medals awarded by the Royal Society for "distinction in evolution, biological diversity and developmental, population and organismal biology". In 1885, International Darwin Memorial Fund was transferred to the ...

of the Royal Society in 1926 and the

Wollaston Medal The Wollaston Medal is a scientific award for geology and the highest award granted by the Geological Society of London, the oldest geological society in the world. The medal is named after William Hyde Wollaston, and was first awarded in 1831. I ...

of the

Geological Society of London The Geological Society of London, known commonly as the Geological Society, is a learned society based in the United Kingdom. It is the oldest national geological society in the world and the largest in Europe, with more than 12,000 Fellows. Fe ...

in 1928. He was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Science of Manchester University, a Doctor of Laws in Aberdeen, and Honorary or Corresponding Membership of many foreign academies, including the French Academy of Sciences.

Personal life

In 1887 he married Henderina Victoria Klaassen (d.1929), who had been one of his first students (d.1929). She continued to carry out research after their marriage, and also provided illustrations and indexes for some of his books and catalogued his collection of fossil slides. They had seven children, one of whom died in infancy and only four survived to adulthood. The family moved to East Oakley House near

Basingstoke Basingstoke ( ) is a town in Hampshire, situated in south-central England across a valley at the source of the River Loddon on the western edge of the North Downs. It is the largest settlement in Hampshire without city status in the United King ...

, in

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Berkshire to the north, Surrey and West Sussex to the east, the Isle of Wight across the Solent to the south, ...

in 1906. He continued to research and publish from there until his death in 1934.

Selected publications

*Scott, Dukinfield Henry (1894, 1896.) ''An Introduction to Structural Biology''. (2 volumes). * *

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Scott, Dukinfield Henry 1854 births 1934 deaths Botanists active in Kew Gardens Royal Medal winners Dukinfield Henry Wollaston Medal winners Fellows of the Linnean Society of London Presidents of the Linnean Society of London Members of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences Fellows of the Royal Society Members of the Royal Society of Sciences in Uppsala Alumni of Christ Church, Oxford