Kåre Bremer (born 17 January 1948) is a Swedish

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

academic An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of tertiary education. The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, founded approximately 386 BC at Akademia, a sanctuary of Athena, the go ...

. He has also been

Vice-Chancellor A vice-chancellor (commonly called a VC) serves as the chief executive of a university in the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Australia, Nepal, India, Bangladesh, Malaysia, Nigeria, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, South Africa, Kenya, other Commonwealth of Nati ...

Stockholm University Stockholm University (SU) () is a public university, public research university in Stockholm, Sweden, founded as a college in 1878, with university status since 1960. With over 33,000 students at four different faculties: law, humanities, social ...

Career

Professor Bremer received his doctorate in botany from Stockholm University in 1976, where he worked as

lecturer Lecturer is an academic rank within many universities, though the meaning of the term varies somewhat from country to country. It generally denotes an academic expert who is hired to teach on a full- or part-time basis. They may also conduct re ...

and

research assistant A research assistant (RA) is a researcher employed, often on a temporary contract, by a university, research institute, or privately held organization to provide assistance in academic or private research endeavors. Research assistants work under ...

in the department from 1972 to 1975, and full-time from 1976. In 1979 he was appointed

Docent The term "docent" is derived from the Latin word , which is the third-person plural present active indicative of ('to teach, to lecture'). Becoming a docent is often referred to as habilitation or doctor of science and is an academic qualifi ...

. In 1980 he became

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 Museum of Natural History in Stockholm in the Department of

Spermatophyte A seed plant or spermatophyte (; New Latin ''spermat-'' and Greek ' (phytón), plant), also known as a phanerogam (taxon Phanerogamae) or a phaenogam (taxon Phaenogamae), is any plant that produces seeds. It is a category of embryophyte (i.e. la ...

Botany. From 1985 to 1986 he was also a

Research Associate Research associates are researchers (scholars and professionals) that usually have an advanced degree beyond a Bachelor's degree such as a master's degree or a PhD. In some universities/research institutes, such as Harvard/Harvard Medical Scho ...

and BA Krukoff Curator of African Botany at the

Missouri Botanical Garden The Missouri Botanical Garden is a botanical garden located at 4344 Shaw Boulevard in St. Louis, Missouri. It is also known informally as Shaw's Garden for founder and philanthropy, philanthropist Henry Shaw (philanthropist), Henry Shaw. I ...

. Following this Bremer was installed as

Professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other tertiary education, post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin ...

Systematic Botany ''Systematic Botany'' is a peer-reviewed scientific journal covering the study of systematic botany. It is published quarterly by the American Society of Plant Taxonomists. According to the ''Journal Citation Reports'', the journal has a 2010 i ...

Uppsala University Uppsala University (UU) () is a public university, public research university in Uppsala, Sweden. Founded in 1477, it is the List of universities in Sweden, oldest university in Sweden and the Nordic countries still in operation. Initially fou ...

in 1989, where he also became head of the department from 1992 to 1999, and Dean of

Biology Biology is the scientific study of life and living organisms. It is a broad natural science that encompasses a wide range of fields and unifying principles that explain the structure, function, growth, History of life, origin, evolution, and ...

from 1993 to 1999. From 2001 to 2004 he was Secretary for Science and Technology Studies at the Swedish Research Council. In January 2004 he left the University of Uppsala to take up a position as Rector (Vice-Chancellor) at Stockholm University on 1 February that year. He is currently professor of Systematic Botany at that university.

Personal life

He is married to his colleague, Birgitta Bremer, and they have two children.

Achievements

Professor Bremer is a board member of the Swedish Association of Universities and Institutes of Higher Education (''Sveriges universitets- och högskoleförbund'', SUHF) and is 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 ...

(''Kungliga Vetenskapsakademien'', KVA). He has been a member of the

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

since 1998. In 2006 he received the King's Medal (''Hans Majestät Konungens medalj''), twelfth level with the

Royal Order of the Seraphim The Royal Order of the Seraphim (; '' Seraphim'' being a category of angels) is the highest order of chivalry of the Kingdom of Sweden. It was created by King Frederick I on 23 February 1748, together with the Order of the Sword and the Ord ...

(''Kungliga Serafimerorden''). The work of the Bremers at Uppsala University became the basis for the modern system of

plant taxonomy Plant taxonomy is the science that finds, identifies, describes, classifies, and names plants. It is one of the main branches of taxonomy (the science that finds, describes, classifies, and names living things). Plant taxonomy is closely allied ...

, known as the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group ( APG) formed by them and other international flowering plant systematists. The system was published in 1998 largely based on the work of Bremer et al. at

, and was available on the

internet The Internet (or internet) is the Global network, global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a internetworking, network of networks ...

in 1996. Moreover, Bremer is known for several important innovations in phylogenetics (Bremer's support ) and biogeography (ancestral areas analysis Bremer, K. (1992). Ancestral Areas: A Cladistic Reinterpretation of the Center of Origin Concept. Systematic Biology, 41(4): 436–445.).

Species

Two African species of the

Asteraceae Asteraceae () is a large family (biology), family of flowering plants that consists of over 32,000 known species in over 1,900 genera within the Order (biology), order Asterales. The number of species in Asteraceae is rivaled only by the Orchi ...

family have been named after him, '' Athanasia bremeri'' and '' Pseudoblepharispermum bremeri''.

References

Sources

Personal website: Kåre Bremer

Website: Birgitta Bremer

Harvard Botanist Index
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bremer, Kare Botanists with author abbreviations 21st-century Swedish botanists 1948 births Living people Academic staff of Stockholm University Academic staff of Uppsala University Rectors of Stockholm University Members of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences Members of the Royal Society of Sciences in Uppsala