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Geoffrey Clough Ainsworth (9 October 1905 in
Geoffrey Clough Ainsworth (9 October 1905 in Birmingham
Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...
– 25 October 1998 in Derby
Derby ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area on the River Derwent, Derbyshire, River Derwent in Derbyshire, England. Derbyshire is named after Derby, which was its original co ...
) was a British mycologist
Mycology is the branch of biology concerned with the study of fungi, including their taxonomy, genetics, biochemical properties, and use by humans. Fungi can be a source of tinder, food, traditional medicine, as well as entheogens, poison, and ...
and scientific historian. He was the older brother of Ruth Ainsworth.
Education and work
Ainsworth received his doctorate in Biology from theUniversity of London
The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a collegiate university, federal Public university, public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The ...
in 1934. From the 1930s to 1960s, he studied and wrote on fungi including their medical uses. Later, he wrote on the history of the field with ''An Introduction to the History of Mycology'' (1976), ''An Introduction to the History of Plant Pathology'' (1981), and'' An Introduction to the History of Medical and Veterinary Mycology'' in 1986.
In 1962 botanists Augusto Chaves Batista and Raffaele Ciferri circumscribed a genus of fungi (family Chaetothyriaceae) named '' Ainsworthia'' and named in Geoffrey Ainsworth's honour.
Awards
*1980Linnean Medal
The Linnean Medal of the Linnean Society of London was established in 1888, and is awarded annually to alternately a botanist or a zoologist or (as has been common since 1958) to one of each in the same year. The medal was of gold until 1976, and ...
, shared with Roy Crowson
Roy Albert Crowson (22 November 1914 in Hadlow, Kent – 13 May 1999) was an English biologist who specialised in the Taxonomy (biology), taxonomy of beetles. He was curator at the Tunbridge Wells Museum, and then lectured at the Zoology Departm ...
Bibliography
* Ainsworth & Bisby's ''Dictionary of the Fungi'' (1st Edition 1943, 2nd 1945, 3rd 1950, 4th 1954, 5th 1961, 6th 1971, 7th 1983, 8th 1995, 9th 2001, 10th Edition 2008) * ''The British Smut Fungi (Ustilaginales)'', (written with Kathleen Sampson, 1950), * ''Medical mycology; an introduction to its problems'' (1952), * ''The Fungi: An Advanced Treatise''. Vols. 1–5. (1965), * ''Fungal Diseases of Animals'' (Review series of the Commonwealth Bureau of Animal Health, written with P. K. C. Austwick, 1973), * ''Introduction to the History of Mycology'' (1976), * ''Nomenclature of fungi pathogenic to man and animals'' (1977), * ''Introduction to the History of Plant Pathology'' (1981), * ''Introduction to the History of Medical and Veterinary Mycology'' (1986).See also
* List of mycologistsReferences
External links
English botanists English mycologists 1905 births 1998 deaths Linnean Medallists Alumni of the University of London Academics from Birmingham, West Midlands 20th-century British biologists 20th-century British botanists {{mycologist-stub