Max Walters
Stuart Max Walters | |
---|---|
Born |
23 May 1920 Oughtibridge, Sheffield, Yorkshire |
Died |
11 December 2005 85) Grantchester, Cambridgeshire | (aged
Known for | Botany |
Scientific career | |
Institutions | Cambridge University Botanic Garden, Cambridge University Herbarium |
Influences | John Gilmour |
Author abbrev. (botany) | Walters |
Stuart Max Walters (born Oughtibridge, Sheffield, Yorkshire 23 May 1920 – died Grantchester, Cambridgeshire 11 December 2005) was a British botanist and academic. As a conscientious objector in the Second World War, he worked as a hospital orderly in Sheffield and Bristol. He was Curator of the Herbarium, Botany School, University of Cambridge 1949-73, Lecturer in Botany 1962-73, and for the ten years up until his retirement, 1973–83, Director of the University Botanic Garden in Cambridge, of which he wrote a history.[1] He was a Research Fellow at St John's College, Cambridge 1948-51 and Fellow of King's College, Cambridge 1964-84.
He was the author of numerous books on plants and flowers, most notably the 1964 Atlas of the British Flora (with Franklyn Perring) and as a co-editor of Flora Europaea. He wrote two well-known books for the New Naturalist library, Wild Flowers (1954, co-written with John Gilmour) and Mountain Flowers (1956, with John Raven). He was much involved in the research and management of Wicken Fen. After his retirement, he wrote a biography of Darwin's teacher and friend, John Stevens Henslow, Darwin's mentor (2001).
Walters was a committed Christian who was much involved both in the local life of the Church of England (he was a churchwarden at Grantchester for many years) and in the application of Christian principles to national and social life: he was a Christian socialist and also a Christian pacifist, and as such was a leading member of the Fellowship of Reconciliation and also active in the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament.[2][3]
References
Bibliography
- Walters, S.M. (1981). The shaping of Cambridge botany : a short history of whole-plant botany in Cambridge from the time of Ray into the present century. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9780521237956.
- Lacey, Pippa. "Changing Perspectives: a Garden through time". Cambridge University Botanic Garden. Retrieved 16 December 2016.
- Obituary in the 2006 Annual Report of King's College Cambridge
- Curtis's Botanical Magazine. "Volume 23, Issue 1. February 2006".
- Cullen, Juliet. "Max Walters, an Appreciation": 2–3. doi:10.1111/j.1355-4905.2006.00520.x. , in Curtis (2006)
External links
- Max Walters. Plant Talk. 2000 at the Wayback Machine (archived March 15, 2005)
- Obituary. The Independent