Stephen Blackmore

CBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

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". ...

FRSB FLS (born 30 July 1952) is 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 ...

, who was educated at St. George's School,

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

and the

University of Reading The University of Reading is a public research university in Reading, Berkshire, England. It was founded in 1892 as the University Extension College, Reading, an extension college of Christchurch College, Oxford, and became University College, ...

where he completed his PhD in 1976 on the "Palynology and Systematics of the Cichorieae". He was elected a fellow 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 ...

in 1976. He then worked at 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 ...

’s Research Station on Aldabra Atoll in the Indian Ocean before being appointed Lecturer in Biology and Head of the National Herbarium and Botanic Garden at the

University of Malawi The University of Malawi (UNIMA) is a public university A public university, state university, or public college is a university or college that is State ownership, owned by the state or receives significant funding from a government. Whethe ...

. In 1980, he was appointed Head of Palynology at Natural History Museum in London and from 1990 to 1999 served there as

Keeper of Botany The Keeper of Botany was a position at the Natural History Museum — formerly British Museum (Natural History) — in London, England, and served as head of department for botany. The position was in place between 1827 and 2013. Keepers of Bota ...

. In 1985 he organized, together with Keith Ferguson, the Linnean Society symposium "Pollen and Spores: Form and Function" and in 1990, together with Susan Barnes, "Pollen and Spores: Patterns of Diversification". He was the 15th Regius Keeper of the

Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh The Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh (RBGE) is a scientific centre for the study of plants, their diversity and conservation, as well as a popular tourist attraction. Founded in 1670 as a physic garden to grow medicinal plants, today it occupies ...

from 1999 until 20 December 2013, and was appointed His Majesty's Botanist in Scotland in 2010. Blackmore has received three awards from the Linnean Society of London: the Trail-Crisp Medal Award in 1987; the

Bicentenary Medal of the Linnean Society __NOTOC__ A bicentennial or bicentenary is the two-hundredth anniversary of a part, or the celebrations thereof. It may refer to: Europe * French Revolution bicentennial, commemorating the 200th anniversary of 14 July 1789 uprising, celebrated ...

in 1992; and the

Linnean 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 ...

in 2012. The

Royal Caledonian Horticultural Society The Royal Caledonian Horticultural Society (RCHS), also known as the Caley, is the national horticultural society of Scotland, and was founded in 1809. Members include both amateur and professional, generalists, specialists and those who simply ...

awarded him the Scottish Horticultural Medal in 2008, and the

Royal Horticultural Society The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS), founded in 1804 as the Horticultural Society of London, is the UK's leading gardening charity. The RHS promotes horticulture through its five gardens at Wisley (Surrey), Hyde Hall (Essex), Harlow Carr ...

presented him the

Victoria Medal of Honour The Victoria Medal of Honour (VMH) is awarded to British horticulturists resident in the United Kingdom whom the Royal Horticultural Society Council considers deserving of special honour by the Society. The award was established in 1897 "in per ...

in 2012. In the

2011 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 2011 were announced on 31 December 2010 in the United Kingdom,United Kingdom: New Zealand,New Zealand"New Year Honours 2011"(14 January 2011) 2 '' New Zealand Gazette'' 55. The Cook IslandsThe Cook Islands: Grenada,Grenada: ...

list he was appointed a

for "services to plant conservation". In 2013 Blackmore was appointed Chairman of the Darwin Expert Committee of the Darwin Initiative and, since 2014, he has also been Chairman of

Botanic Gardens Conservation International Botanic Gardens Conservation International (BGCI) is a plant conservation biology, conservation Charitable organization, charity based in Kew, Surrey, England. It is a membership organisation, working with 800 botanic gardens in 118 countries, wh ...

. He served on the board of the

Seychelles Islands Foundation Seychelles Islands Foundation (SIF) manages and protects the World Heritage Sites of Aldabra and Vallee de Mai. The foundation was established as a public trust in 1979, with the President of Seychelles as patron. The Board of trustees, appointed b ...

from 1997 until 2022.

References

External links

* 1952 births Living people Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh Fellows of the Linnean Society of London Fellows of the Royal Society of Biology People associated with the Natural History Museum, London Victoria Medal of Honour recipients Linnean Medallists Alumni of the University of Reading Academic staff of the University of Malawi {{england-scientist-stub