Robert Folger Thorne
Robert Folger Thorne | |
|---|---|
PhD ) | |
| Spouse |
Mae Zukel (m. 1947) |
| Awards | Asa Gray Award |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Botany |
| Institutions | Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden, Claremont Graduate University |
| Author abbrev. (botany) | Thorne |
Robert F. Thorne (July 13, 1920 – March 24, 2015) was an American
Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden and professor emeritus at Claremont Graduate University in Claremont, California. His research has contributed to the understanding of the evolution of flowering plants.[1][2]
Life
Thorne was born on July 13, 1920, in
Ellington Field, Texas, from 1944 to 1945.[5]
After serving in the armed forces, he earned his Ph.D. in economic botany at Cornell University in 1949, studying under professors Walter Muenscher and Arthur Eames.[4] While at Cornell, he met and married Mae Zukel in 1947.[4] Bob Thorne died on Tuesday, March 24, 2015, at the age of 94.[6]
Work
Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden
Thorne was the assistant professor of botany at the
Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden and professor for Claremont Graduate School (now Claremont Graduate University) in Claremont, California. He became taxonomist and curator emeritus as well as professor emeritus at Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden and Claremont Graduate School in 1987. He also became curator emeritus of the Pomona College Herbarium in Claremont, California, from 1990 to the present.[5]
Other appointments include: Field Botanist,
U.S. Public Health Service, Georgia, Summer 1946. Botany Assistant, 1945–1947; Instructor in Botany, 1948–1949; Cornell University, Ithaca, New York. Visiting Associate Professor, University of Virginia, Mountain Lake Biological Station, Summer 1956.[5]
Thorne became a
Santa Catalina Island’s biota."[4]
Thorne gained an international reputation through "his contributions to our understanding of the evolution of flowering plants... and that has culminated recently in two... publications, one outlining his classifications of
Baja peninsula.[4]
Thorne system
Among Thorne's many accomplishments was a system of plant taxonomy known as the Thorne system, first issued in 1968,[7] and periodically revised from 1976[8] onwards (1977,[9] 1983,[10] 1992,[11][12] 1999,[13] 2007[14]).
Fellowships and awards
- Cramer Fellow (Dartmouth College to attend Cornell University, 1941; declined a second Cramer Fellowship in order to enter Army Air Forces).
- Research Associate Professor, University of Iowa, 1957.
- Fulbright Research Scholar, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia, 1959–1960 (renewed once).
- National Science Foundation Senior Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia; Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, and British Museum (Natural History), London, England, 1960.
- Elected Foreign Member, Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters, 1986–present.
- Merit Award, American Botanical Society, 1996.
- Madroño, Volume 45, 1999. Dedicated to Robert F. Thorne.[5]
Special recognition
- 1996. Universidad Autónoma de Baja California, Ensenada. For botanical contributions in Baja California
- 1998. Santa Catalina Island Conservancy. For botanical contributions to Santa Catalina Island
- 1999. Southern California Botanists. For botanical contributions in California
- 1999. Southern California Botanists. Lifetime Achievement Award
- 2000. University Club of Claremont, California
- 2001. American Society of Plant Taxonomists. Asa Gray Award for outstanding contributions in systematic botany
- 2003. Third International Conference of the Comparative Biology of Monocotyledons. Lifetime Achievement Award
- 2005. Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden. Dedication honoring lifetime achievements as systematist and conservationist
- 2006. Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden. California Glory Award acknowledging outstanding contributions toward understanding and preservation of California's native flora
- 2006. Botanical Society of America. Centennial Award for exemplary services to the plant sciences[5]
Professional service
Active via elective and appointed offices in service to several professional societies:[15]
- President, American Society of Plant Taxonomists, 1968.
- Secretary, Botanical Society of America, ca. 1958.
- President, Southern California Botanists, ca. 1966.
- Second vice-president, California Botanical Society, ca. 1966.
- National treasurer, Gamma Alpha scientific fraternity, 1954–1957.
- Chairman, advisory council of Flora North America Project, which found the project feasible.
- On the editorial boards of several national botanical journals; international journal Taiwania.
- Reviewer of manuscripts for various botanical journals and university presses.
Selected publications
- .
- )
- ISBN 978-3-211-81434-5.
- .
- 1986. Thorne, R. F. Antarctic elements in Australasian rainforests. Telopea 2(6): 611–617.[15]
- S2CID 40348158.
- .
- 1994. Krantz, T. P. and R. F. Thorne. An annotated flora of the vascular plants of the San Bernardino Mountains. (Appendix I: Krantz. A phytogeography of the San Bernardino Mountains, San Bernardino County, California. Ph.D. Thesis, Univ. of Calif., Berkeley. 1994)[16]
- 1995. Thorne, R. F. Vascular plants of Fort DeSoto Park, Pinellas County, Florida. Selbyana 16(1): 100–109.
- 1999. Thorne, R. F. Eastern Asia as a living museum for archaic angiosperms and other seed plants. Taiwania 44(4): 413–422.
- 2000. Thorne, R. F. The classification and geography of the monocotyledon subclasses Alismatidae, Liliidae and Commelinidae, pp. 75–124. In B. Nordenstam, G. E-Ghazaly, and M. Kassas [eds.], Plant Systematics for the 21st Century. Portland Press, London, UK.
- 2001. Thorne, R. F. The classification and geography of the flowering plants: dicotyledons of the class Angiospermae (subclasses Magnoliidae, Ranunculidae, Caryophyllidae, Dilleniidae, Rosidae, Asteridae, and Lamiidae). Botanical Revue 66(4): 44l–647.
- 2002. Thorne, R. F. How many species of seed plants are there? Taxon 51: 511–512.
- 2006. Thorne, R. F. A bibliography of floristics in southern California: addendum number 2A. Crossosoma 31(2), Fall–Winter 2005 (issued 2006).
- S2CID 24415895.
- 2007. Thorne, R. F. et al. Transmontane coniferous vegetation, pp. 575–586. In M. G. Barbour. T. Keeler.-Wolf and A. A. Schoenherr [eds.], Terrestrial Vegetation of California, 3rd ed., University of California Press, Berkeley, CA.
- 2010. Thorne, R. F, R. V. Moran and R. A. Minnich. 2010. Vascular plants of the high Sierra San Pedro Mártir, Baja California, Mexico: an annotated checklist. Aliso (28): 1–57.
References
- ^ "Obituary for Robert F. Thorne". Aliso: A Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Botany. 33 (1). 2015. Archived from the original on 21 September 2017. Retrieved 17 November 2017.
{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link) - ^ "In Memoriam: R. F. Thorne Apr 13 Robert Folger Thorne (1920-2015)". The American Society of Plant Taxonomist. Archived from the original on 18 April 2015. Retrieved 11 June 2015.
- ^ Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden Library. "Finding Aid for the Robert Folger Thorne Papers 1905-1988" (2009), p. 1.
- ^ a b c d e f g h Hamilton, Clement W. "Robert F. Thorne - Recipient of the 2001 Asa Gray Award", Systematic Botany(2002), 27(1): p. 2.
- ^ a b c d e Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden Library. "Finding Aid for the Robert Folger Thorne Papers 1905-1988" (2009), p. 2.
- ^ "In Memory of Robert Folger "Bob" Thorne". Archived from the original on 2015-06-26. Retrieved 2015-06-26.
- ^ Thorne 1968.
- ^ Thorne 1976.
- ^ Thorne 1977.
- ^ Thorne 1983.
- ^ Thorne 1992a.
- ^ Thorne 1992b.
- ^ Reveal 1999a.
- ^ Thorne & Reveal 2007.
- ^ a b Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden Library. "Finding Aid for the Robert Folger Thorne Papers 1905-1988" (2009), p. 3.
- ^ Robert F Thorne.A Bibliography of Floristics in Southern California. 2. Literature pertinent to local areas
- ^ International Plant Names Index. Thorne.
Bibliography
- Reveal, James L (29 March 1999a). "An updated classification of the Monocotyledoneae by Robert F Thorne". Plant Biology. University of Maryland: Norton-Brown Herbarium. Retrieved 4 January 2016.
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