Richard Pankhurst (botanist) explained

Richard Pankhurst
Birth Name:	Richard John Pankhurst
Birth Date:	1940
Field:	Botany, Biodiversity informatics
Work Institution:	Natural History Museum, London, Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh
Occupation:	Botanist

Richard John Pankhurst (1940^[1] –2013) was a British computer scientist, botanist and academic. From 1963 to 1966 he worked at CERN, then from 1966 to 1974 on computer-aided design at Cambridge University, and from 1974 to 1991 at the Natural History Museum as curator of the British herbarium. In 1991, he became a Principal Scientific Officer at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh.^[2]

He published over fifty peer reviewed papers and sat on several committees:

• Botanical Society of the British Isles: Committee for Scotland; Database Committee
• Botanical Society of Scotland: Council
• Biodiversity Information Standards (TDWG): Descriptors Group (as convenor)
• International Organisation for Plant Information: Information Systems Committee, Checklist Committee (co-convener)

His book Biological Identification (1978) has been described as " the first textbook on computer methods in identification".

Pankhurst died in 2013,^[3] a year after the species Taraxacum pankhurstianum, endemic to St. Kilda, was named in his honour, for his suggestion that the seed from which it was grown at Edinburgh be collected.^{[4] [5] [6]}

Selected works

• • • Book: Pankhurst, Richard J. . Biological Identification: The Principles and Practice of Identification Methods in Biology . 1978 . Edward Arnold . 9780839113447 . registration .
• Book: Flora of the Outer Hebrides . Pankhurst . Richard J. . Mullin . J.M. . 1991 . 9781907807497 .
• Book: Pankhurst, Richard J. . Practical Taxonomic Computing . 1991 . Cambridge University Press . 9780521417600 .

Notes and References

1. Web site: Richard Pankhurst. Virtual International Authority File. 14 December 2015.
2. Web site: Dr. Richard J. Pankhurst. BioCISE. 14 December 2015.
3. Web site: In Memoriam Dr Richard Pankhurst. 14 December 2015.
4. Web site: New Dandelion Found. Royal Botanical Garden Edinburgh. 29 June 2012.
5. Web site: New species of dandelion discovered on St Kilda island. 29 June 2012. BBC News. 16 April 2018.
6. Richards . A J . Ferguson-Smyth . C C . 2012 . Taraxacum pankhurstianum (Asteraceae), a new dandelion endemic to St Kilda, Outer Hebrides, Scotland . New Journal of Botany . 2 . 1 . 16–19 . 2042-3489 . 10.1179/2042349712Y.0000000006. 84572499 .