Theodora Lisle Prankerd (21 June 1878 – 11 November 1939) was a British botanist who worked on the growth of ferns, and lectured at Bedford College 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, ...

Early life and education

Theodora Lisle Prankerd was born in

Hackney, London Hackney is a district in East London, England, forming around two-thirds of the area of the modern London Borough of Hackney, to which it gives its name. It is 4 miles (6.4 km) northeast of Charing Cross and includes part of the Queen ...

, the daughter of general practitioner Orlando Reeves Prankerd and his second wife, Clementina Soares. She attended Brighton High School (now Brighton Girls). She then studied botany

Royal Holloway, University of London Royal Holloway, University of London (RH), formally incorporated as Royal Holloway and Bedford New College, is a public university, public research university and a constituent college, member institution of the federal University of London. It ...

, first supported by a Founders scholarship, and then a Driver Scholarship, graduating with 1st Class Honours in 1903, at the time headed by Margaret Jane Benson.

Work and achievements

Prankerd worked as a school teacher from 1904 to 1911. She was appointed a part time lecturer in botany at Bedford College in 1912, before becoming a full time lecturer there until 1917. In 1912 she became a part-time Reader in Botany at

Birkbeck College, London Birkbeck, University of London (formally Birkbeck College, University of London), is a public research university located in London, England, and a member institution of the University of London. Established in 1823 as the London Mechanics' ...

. In 1917 Plankerd was appointed a lecturer in botany at the University of Reading, where she lectured until her death. Colleagues included Tom Harris and Walter Styles, who wrote her obituary. She gained her Doctor of Sciences degree from the University of London in 1929. Between 1922 and 1936 she published a series of pioneering studies in the growth of

fern The ferns (Polypodiopsida or Polypodiophyta) are a group of vascular plants (plants with xylem and phloem) that reproduce via spores and have neither seeds nor flowers. They differ from mosses by being vascular, i.e., having specialized tissue ...

s in response to gravity (

geotropism Gravitropism (also known as geotropism) is a coordinated process of differential growth by a plant in response to gravity pulling on it. It also occurs in fungi. Gravity can be either "artificial gravity" or natural gravity. It is a general feat ...

). Although she was credited with all the research and authorship of the published papers, her work was presented at various scientific meetings by male colleagues. Prankerd died in

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of symbols, often specifically those of a written language, by means of Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifacete ...

in 1939 after being hit by a bus, and her mother endowed a research scholarship in her name to the University of Reading.

Publications

* Prankerd, T. L. (1911), On the Structure and Biology of the Genus Hottonia. Annals of Botany os-25 (1): 253–26
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* Prankerd, T. L. (1912), On the Structure of the Palæozoic Seed Lagenostoma ovoides, Will. Journal of the Linnean Society of London, Botany, 40: 461–490. doi:10.1111/j.1095-8339.1912.tb00880.
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* Prankerd, T. L. (1915), Notes on the Occurrence of Multinucleate Cells. Annals of Botany os-29 (4): 599–604
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* PRANKERD, T. L., Preliminary observations on the nature and distribution of the statolith apparatus in plants. Rep. Brit. Ass., Manchester Meeting, 1915, p. 722, Publ. London, 1916 * Prankerd, T. L. (1920), Statocytes of the Wheat Haulm. Botanical Gazette 70(2): 148-15
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* Prankerd, T. L. (1922), On the Irritability of the Fronds of Asplenium bulbiferum, With Special Reference to Graviperception. Proc. R. Soc. Lond. B 93(650): 143–152; doi:10.1098/rspb.1922.001
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* Prankerd, T. L. (1925), The Ontogeny of Graviperception in Osmunda regalis. Annals of Botany os-39 (4): 709–720
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* Prankerd, T. L. (1929), Studies in the Geotropism of Pteridophyta. IV. On Specificity in Graviperception. Journal of the Linnean Society of London, Botany, 48: 317–336. doi:10.1111/j.1095-8339.1929.tb00590.
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* Prankerd, T. L. (1935), Studies in the Geotropism of the Pteridophyta. V. Some Effects of Temperature on Growth and Geotropism in Asplenium bulbiferium. Proc. R. Soc. Lond. B 116(800): 479-493 doi:10.1098/rspb.1935.000
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* Prankerd, T. L. (1936), Studies in the Geotropism of Pteridophyta. VI. On Rhythm in Graviperception and Reaction to Gravity. Proc. R. Soc. Lond. B 120(817): 126-14
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References

Bibliography

* Strohmeier R. Lexikon der Naturwissenschaftlerinnen und naturkundigen Frauen Europas von der Antike bis zum 20. Jahrhundert. Frankfurt:

Verlag Harri Deutsch The (VHD, HD) with headquarters in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, as well as in Zürich and Thun, Switzerland, was a German publishing house founded in 1961 and closed in 2013. Overview The ' with headquarters in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, ...

, 1998. page 226
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Prankerd, Theodora Lisle 1878 births 1939 deaths People from the London Borough of Hackney 20th-century British botanists British women botanists British pteridologists Alumni of Royal Holloway, University of London Academics of Birkbeck, University of London Academics of the University of Reading 20th-century British women scientists Road incident deaths in England