Richard Pankhurst (botanist)
Richard Pankhurst | |
|---|---|
Richard Pankhurst, Outer Hebrides. Photo: Claudia Ferguson-Smyth | |
| Born | Richard John Pankhurst 1940 |
| Died | 26 March 2013 (aged 72–73) |
| Occupation | Botanist |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Botany, Biodiversity informatics |
| Institutions | Natural History Museum, London, Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh |
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Richard John Pankhurst (1940–2013) 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.
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, 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.