Ghillean Prance Explained

Sir Ghillean Prance
Birth Name:Ghillean Tolmie Prance
Birth Date:1937 7, df=yes[1]
Birth Place:Brandeston, Suffolk, England
Nationality:British
Fields:Botany
Workplaces:New York Botanical Garden (1963–1988)
Alma Mater:Keble College, University of Oxford
Thesis Title:A taxonomic study of the Chrysobalanaceae
Thesis Url:https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:25003fc3-26fe-4cd6-9b90-92f1bd6d31ad
Thesis Year:1963
Known For:Director of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (1988–1999)

Sir Ghillean Tolmie Prance (born 13 July 1937) is a prominent British botanist and ecologist[2] who has published extensively[3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] on the taxonomy of families such as Chrysobalanaceae and Lecythidaceae, but drew particular attention in documenting the pollination ecology of Victoria amazonica.[15] [16] Prance is a former director of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.

Early life

Prance was born on 13 July 1937 in Brandeston, Suffolk, England.[1] He was educated at Malvern College and Keble College, Oxford.[17] In 1957, he achieved BSc Biology. In 1963 he received a D. Phil. in Forest Botany from the Commonwealth Forestry Institute, Oxford.[1]

Career

Prance worked from 1963 at The New York Botanical Garden, initially as a research assistant and, on his departure in 1988, as Director of the Institute of Economic Botany and Senior Vice-President for Science.[1] Much of his career at the New York Botanical Garden was spent conducting extensive fieldwork in the Amazon region of Brazil. In 1973 he coordinated the first Botany Postgraduate Degree held in the Amazon, at National Institute of Amazonian Research, in Manaus.[18] He was Director of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew from 1988 to 1999.

Later work

He has remained very active in his retirement, notably involving himself with the Eden Project. Prance, a devout Christian, was the chair of A Rocha[19] and was president of Christians in Science 2002–08.[20]

He is actively involved on environmental issues, a trustee of the Amazon Charitable Trust,[17] and a Vice-President of the Nature in Art Trust.[21] He has been president of the UK Wild Flower Society for several years.[22] [23]

Honours

Prance was knighted in 1995. He has been a Fellow of the Linnean Society since 1961, and served as its president in the years 1997–2000. He was made a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1993, and was awarded the Victoria Medal of Honour in 1999.[24] He was awarded the Patron's Medal of the Royal Geographical Society in 1994.[25]

In 2000 he was made a Commander of the Order of the Southern Cross by the President of Brazil.[17] In 2012 he was awarded the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays and Neck Ribbon by the Government of Japan.[26]

Legacy

Two photographic portraits of Prance are held at the National Portrait Gallery, London.[27]

In 1984, botanist Dieter Carl Wasshausen published Pranceacanthus, a genus of flowering plants from Brazil and Bolivia belonging to the family Acanthaceae and named after Prance.[28]

A biography of Prance was written by Clive Langmead in 2001.[2]

Video

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Records of the Herbarium (RG4) GHILLEAN T. PRANCE RECORDS (1963–1988) . Archives and Manuscript Collections . . August 2000 . 25 February 2014 . Sinon, Stephen.
  2. Book: Langmead, Clive . A Passion for Plants: Life and Vision of Ghillean Prance, Director of Kew Gardens . Royal Botanic Gardens . Kew . 2001 . 1-900347-76-8 .
  3. Bebber . D. P. . Carine . M. A. . Wood . J. R. I. . Wortley . A. H. . Harris . D. J. . Prance . G. T. . Ghillean Prance. Davidse . G. . Paige . J. . Pennington . T. D. . Robson . 10.1073/pnas.1011841108 . N. K. B. . Scotland . R. W. . Herbaria are a major frontier for species discovery . Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences . 107 . 51 . 22169–22171 . 2010 . 21135225 . 3009773 . 2010PNAS..10722169B. free .
  4. Prance . G. T. . Ghillean Prance. Species survival and carbon retention in commercially exploited tropical rainforest . 10.1098/rsta.2002.1041 . Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences . 360 . 1797 . 1777–1785 . 2002 . 12460497 . 2002RSPTA.360.1777P . 23286528 .
  5. Brown . S. . Swingland . I. R. . Hanbury-Tenison . R. . Prance . G. T. . Ghillean Prance. Myers . N. . Changes in the use and management of forests for abating carbon emissions: Issues and challenges under the Kyoto Protocol . 10.1098/rsta.2002.1021 . Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences . 360 . 1797 . 1593–1605 . 2002 . 12460486 . 2002RSPTA.360.1593B . 2549023 .
  6. Prance . G. T. . Ghillean Prance. Ethnobotany and the future of conservation . Biologist (London, England) . 47 . 2 . 65–68 . 2000 . 11190230.
  7. Prance . G. . Ghillean Prance. The poisons and narcotics of the Amazonian Indians . Journal of the Royal College of Physicians of London . 33 . 4 . 368–376 . 1999 . 10472027. 9665745 .
  8. 10.2307/2446029 . Morton . C. . Mori . S. . Prance . G. . Ghillean Prance. Karol . K. . Chase . M. . Phylogenetic relationships of Lecythidaceae: A cladistic analysis using rbcL sequence and morphological data . American Journal of Botany . 84 . 4 . 530–540 . 1997 . 2446029 . 21708605.
  9. Dalton . H. . Goodwin . B. . Ho . M. W. . McGlade . J. . Prance . G. . Ghillean Prance. Saunders . P. . Sherratt . D. . Smith . J. M. . Whittenbury . R. . 10.1038/385672a0 . Patent threat to research . Nature . 385 . 6618 . 672 . 1997 . 9034179 . 1997Natur.385..672D. free .
  10. Prance . G. T. . Ghillean Prance. What is ethnobotany today? . Journal of Ethnopharmacology . 32 . 1–3 . 209–216 . 1991 . 1881159 . 10.1016/0378-8741(91)90120-3.
  11. Prance . G. T. . Ghillean Prance. Threatened Plants . 10.1126/science.216.4549.977 . Science . 216 . 4549 . 977–978 . 1982 . 17809062 . 1982Sci...216..977S .
  12. Mori . S. A. . Orchard . J. E. . Prance . G. T. . Ghillean Prance. 10.1126/science.209.4454.400 . Intrafloral Pollen Differentiation in the New World Lecythidaceae, Subfamily Lecythidoideae . Science . 209 . 4454 . 400–403 . 1980 . 17747812 . 1980Sci...209..400M. 20448653 .
  13. Fidalgo . O. . Prance . G. T. . Ghillean Prance. The ethnomycology of the Sanama Indians . Mycologia . 68 . 1 . 201–210 . 1976 . 934181 . 10.2307/3758915. 3758915 .
  14. Prance . G. T. . Ghillean Prance. The mycological diet of the Yanomam Indians . Mycologia . 65 . 1 . 248–250 . 1973 . 4734424 . 10.2307/3757814. 3757814 .
  15. Book: Prance, Anne E. . Sandved, Kjell Bloch . Prance, Ghillean T. . Bark: the formation, characteristics, and uses of bark around the world . Timber Press . Portland, Or . 1993 . 0-88192-262-5 .
  16. Book: Sandved, Kjell Bloch . Prance, Ghillean T. . Leaves, the formation, characteristics, and uses of hundreds of leaves found in all parts of the world . Crown . [New York] . 1985 . 0-517-55152-7 .
  17. Web site: Professor Sir Ghillean Prance . Trustees . Amazon Charitable Trust . 25 February 2014 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20140301163257/http://www.amazoncharitabletrust.org/en/trustees-ghillean-prance.asp . 1 March 2014 .
  18. Web site: História do PPG-Ecologia do INPA . ppginpa.eco.br . Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia . December 2016 . 23 August 2018.
  19. Web site: International Trustees . A Rocha . 17 March 2013 . 3 March 2013 . https://web.archive.org/web/20130303091013/http://www.arocha.org/int-en/who/trustees.html . dead .
  20. Web site: Presidents . Christians in Science . 17 March 2013.
  21. Web site: Nature in Art Trust. Nature in Art Trust. 23 March 2010. https://web.archive.org/web/20100509223727/http://www.nature-in-art.org.uk/trust.html. 9 May 2010. dead.
  22. News: Marren, Peter. Wild Flower Society: Floral fixation. The Independent on Sunday. 23 August 2010. 25 March 2021.
  23. http://www.thewildflowersociety.com/wfs_new_pages/1a_contact_us.htm The Wild Flower Society website
  24. Web site: Ghillean Prance (1937–) . Kew, History & Heritage . . 25 February 2014 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20130212055807/http://www.kew.org/heritage/people/prance.html . 12 February 2013 . dmy-all .
  25. Web site: List of Past Gold Medal Winners . Royal Geographical Society . 24 August 2015 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20110927221002/http://www.rgs.org/NR/rdonlyres/C5962519-882A-4C67-803D-0037308C756D/0/GoldMedallists18322011.pdf . 27 September 2011 .
  26. Web site: Decorations for two worthy recipients celebrated at the Embassy . uk.emb-japan.go.jp . Embassy of Japan in the UK . December 2012 . 7 June 2017.
  27. Web site: Sir Ghillean Tolmie Prance (1937–), Director of the Royal Botanic Gardens . Collections . . 25 February 2014.
  28. Web site: Pranceacanthus Wassh. Plants of the World Online Kew Science . Plants of the World Online . 20 May 2021 . en.

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