Selmar Schonland
Selmar Schonland | |
---|---|
Selmar Schönland | |
Grahamstown, Cape Province | |
Alma mater | University of Hamburg |
Spouse | Flora MacOwan |
Children | Basil Schonland Richard Schonland Felix Schonland |
Scientific career | |
Fields | Botany |
Institutions | Albany Museum |
Author abbrev. (botany) | Schönland |
Selmar Schonland (15 August 1860 – 22 April 1940), originally spelt Schönland, the founder of the Department of Botany at
While at Oxford, he translated, with Edward Bagnall Poulton and Arthur Shipley, August Weismann's "Essays upon Heredity and Kindred Biological Problems".
Coming to the museum in Grahamstown gave him the opportunity to broaden his interests and develop the second largest herbarium in South Africa which had been founded by
Schonland approached one of the Rhodes Trustees, Dr. Leander Starr Jameson to assist in funding. Jameson, soon to be elected Member of Parliament for Albany and Prime Minister of the Cape Colony, promised £50,000 without consulting his fellow Trustees. At first they refused to confirm the grant; then, persuaded by Schonland, they made over De Beers Preference Shares to the value of £50 000 to Rhodes University College, founded by Act of Parliament on May 31, 1904. By the time Schonland retired, the Botany Department and Rhodes University had become an established centre of taxonomic research and learning in South Africa. He played a leading role in the Botanical Survey of South Africa which had been initiated by Pole Evans.
He was a foundation member of the
Selmar Schonland married Peter MacOwan's daughter Flora in 1895 and was the father of Sir Basil Schonland who contributed greatly to lightning research and radar development.[a]
Publications
- August Weismann: Essays upon Heredity and Kindred Biological Problems: Clarendon Press, Oxford (1889) : (Co-translator)
- Botanical Survey of SA : Phanerogamic Flora of the Division of Uitenhage and Port Elizabeth : Memoir No.1 (1919)
- Botanical Survey of SA : South African Cyperaceae : Memoir No.3
- Revision of the South African species of Rhus : Bothalia (1930)
References
Notes
- ^ Date of marriage cited in Biography of Selmar Schonland at the S2A3 Biographical Database of Southern African Science
Citations
Further reading
- Gunn, Mary; Codd, LE (1981). Botanical Exploration in Southern Africa. Balkema.
- Lubke, Roy; Brink, Estelle (1 November 2004). "One Hundred Years of Botany at Rhodes University". South African Journal of Science. 100 (11). hdl:10520/EJC96178.
External links
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/4c/Wikisource-logo.svg/38px-Wikisource-logo.svg.png)
- Selmar Schonland Herbarium at the Wayback Machine (archived July 23, 1997)
- Biography of Selmar Schonland at the S2A3 Biographical Database of Southern African Science