Ben-Erik van Wyk

FAAS Function as a service is a "platform-level cloud capability" that enables its users "to build and manage microservices applications with low initial investment for scalability," according to ISO/IEC 22123-2. Function as a Service is a subset of t ...

(born 27 December 1956 in Bellville) is a South African professor of indigenous

botany 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

traditional African medicine Traditional African medicine is a range of traditional medicine disciplines involving indigenous herbalism and African spirituality, typically including diviners, midwives, and herbalists. Practitioners of traditional African medicine claim, ...

at the University of Johannesburg.

Early life and education

Ben-Erik van Wyk was born on 27 December 1956 in Bellville, South Africa. In 1979, he received a

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, B.S., B.Sc., SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree that is awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Scienc ...

from

Stellenbosch University Stellenbosch University (SU) (, ) is a public research university situated in Stellenbosch, a town in the Western Cape province of South Africa. Stellenbosch is the oldest university in South Africa and the oldest extant university in Sub-Sahara ...

Forestry Forestry is the science and craft of creating, managing, planting, using, conserving and repairing forests and woodlands for associated resources for human and Natural environment, environmental benefits. Forestry is practiced in plantations and ...

and Nature Conservation. In 1983, he graduated

cum laude Latin honors are a system of Latin phrases used in some colleges and universities to indicate the level of distinction with which an academic degree has been earned. The system is primarily used in the United States. It is also used in some Sout ...

with a

Master of Science A Master of Science (; abbreviated MS, M.S., MSc, M.Sc., SM, S.M., ScM or Sc.M.) is a master's degree. In contrast to the Master of Arts degree, the Master of Science degree is typically granted for studies in sciences, engineering and medici ...

. In 1989, he obtained a

Doctor of Philosophy A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of Postgraduate education, graduate study and original resear ...

from the

University of Cape Town The University of Cape Town (UCT) (, ) is a public university, public research university in Cape Town, South Africa. Established in 1829 as the South African College, it was granted full university status in 1918, making it the oldest univer ...

Career and research

Since 1984, Van Wyk has been teaching at the

Rand Afrikaans University The Rand Afrikaans University (RAU) (Afrikaans: ''Randse Afrikaanse Universiteit'') was a prominent South African institution of higher education and research that served the greater Johannesburg area and surroundings from 1967 to 2004. It ha ...

, where he has been a professor since 1990. Since 2005, he has been a professor at the Department of Botany and Plant Biotechnology,

University of Johannesburg The University of Johannesburg, colloquially known as UJ, 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 fundi ...

, where the Rand Afrikaans University has been absorbed. Van Wyk researches African plant plant classification (

taxonomy image:Hierarchical clustering diagram.png, 280px, Generalized scheme of taxonomy Taxonomy is a practice and science concerned with classification or categorization. Typically, there are two parts to it: the development of an underlying scheme o ...

and

chemotaxonomy Merriam-Webster defines ''chemotaxonomy'' as the method of biological classification based on similarities and dissimilarity in the structure of certain compounds among the organisms being classified. Advocates argue that, as proteins are more c ...

) particularly for

Apiaceae Apiaceae () or Umbelliferae is a family of mostly aromatic flowering plants named after the type genus ''Apium,'' and commonly known as the celery, carrot, or parsley family, or simply as umbellifers. It is the 16th-largest family of flowering p ...

Fabaceae Fabaceae () or Leguminosae,International Code of Nomen ...

Aloe ''Aloe'' (; also written ''Aloë'') is a genus containing over 650 species of flowering plant, flowering succulent plant, succulent plants.WFO (2022): Aloe L. Published on the Internet;http://www.worldfloraonline.org/taxon/wfo-4000001341. Acc ...

'','' and

Asphodelaceae Asphodelaceae is a family of flowering plants in the order Asparagales. Such a family has been recognized by most taxonomists, but the circumscription has varied widely. In its current circumscription in the APG IV system, it includes about 4 ...

. In addition, he focuses on medicinal plants and

ethnobotany Ethnobotany is an interdisciplinary field at the interface of natural and social sciences that studies the relationships between humans and plants. It focuses on traditional knowledge of how plants are used, managed, and perceived in human socie ...

, including the ethnobotany of

Khoisan Khoisan ( ) or () is an Hypernymy and hyponymy, umbrella term for the various Indigenous peoples of Africa, indigenous peoples of Southern Africa who traditionally speak non-Bantu languages, combining the Khoekhoen and the San people, Sān peo ...

and

Afrikaners Afrikaners () are a Southern African ethnic group descended from predominantly Dutch people, Dutch Settler colonialism, settlers who first arrived at the Cape of Good Hope in Free Burghers in the Dutch Cape Colony, 1652.Entry: Cape Colony. '' ...

from the Western Cape. He is also involved in quality control and product development of

medicinal plant Medicinal plants, also called medicinal herbs, have been discovered and used in traditional medicine practices since prehistoric times. Plants synthesize hundreds of chemical compounds for various functions, including Plant defense against h ...

products and crop development. Van Wyk is a member of several organizations, including the ''Aloe Council of South Africa'' (Chair), the

American Society of Plant Taxonomists The American Society of Plant Taxonomists (ASPT) is a botany, botanical organization formed in 1935 to "foster, encourage, and promote education and research in the field of plant taxonomy, to include those areas and fields of study that contribut ...

, the

Botanical Society of America The Botanical Society of America (BSA) represents professional and amateur botanists, researchers, educators and students in over 80 countries of the world. It functions as a United States nonprofit 501(c)(3) membership society. History The soc ...

, the Indigenous Plant Use Forum (Chair since 1996), the ''Association for African Medicinal Plant Standards'', ''Briza Publications CC,'' and the ''Presidential Task Team on African Traditional Medicine''. He is a Member of the Editorial Board of the

South African Journal of Botany The ''South African Journal of Botany'' (Afrikaans title: ''Suid-Afrikaanse tydskrif vir plantkunde'') is a bimonthly peer-reviewed scientific journal covering all aspects of botany as related to Southern Africa. It is published by Elsevier on beha ...

, the Official Journal of the South African Association of Botanists.

Awards and honours

Van Wyk has received several awards, including the ''Schlich Medal'' in 1980, the ''FRD President's Award'' in 1991, the ''

Havenga prize The Havenga Prize (''Havengaprys'' in Afrikaans) is a prize awarded annually by the ''Suid-Afrikaanse Akademie vir Wetenskap en Kuns The Suid-Afrikaanse Akademie vir Wetenskap en Kuns (SAAWK) (literally ''South African Academy for Science an ...

'' for Biology from the South African Academy of Science and Art in 2006, the ''Silver Medal'' from the South African Association of Botanists in 2007, and the ''Medal of Honor'' from the Faculty of Natural Science and Technology of the South African Academy of Science and Art in 2011. Van Wyk was elected a Fellow of the

African Academy of Sciences The African Academy of Sciences (AAS) is a non-aligned, non-political, not-for-profit, pan-African learned society formed in 1985. The AAS elects fellows ( FAAS) and affiliates. The AAS also awards the Obasanjo Prize for Scientific Discovery a ...

in 2013.

Publications

Van Wyk has (co-)authored more than two hundred articles in scientific journals and (co-)authored more than 180

botanical name A botanical name is a formal scientific name conforming to the ''International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants'' (ICN) and, if it concerns a plant cultigen, the additional cultivar or cultivar group, Group epithets must conform t ...

s. His books and commentary have been published in

Afrikaans Afrikaans is a West Germanic languages, West Germanic language spoken in South Africa, Namibia and to a lesser extent Botswana, Zambia, Zimbabwe and also Argentina where there is a group in Sarmiento, Chubut, Sarmiento that speaks the Pat ...

, German, Polish and Korean, in addition to the English-language editions.

References

External links

Medicinal plants
with Prof Ben-Erik van Wyk - YouTube {{DEFAULTSORT:van Wyk, Ben-Erik Fellows of the African Academy of Sciences South African scientists 1956 births Living people Academic staff of the University of Johannesburg 21st-century South African botanists Academic staff of Rand Afrikaans University