William Jack (botanist)

William Jack
Born 1795
Aberdeen, Scotland
Died 15 September 1822[1] (aged 27-28)
Bencoolen, Sumatra
Nationality British
Scientific career
Fields medicine, botany

William Jack FRSE (1795 in Aberdeen – 1822 in Bencoolen, Sumatra) was a noted Scottish botanist and medical practitioner.

Life

He was born in Aberdeen on 29 January 1795. He studied at the University of Aberdeen and received an M.A. degree at the age of 16, then continued studies in Medicine in London, graduating as an M.D., and was admitted to the Royal College of Surgeons of England in 1812.[2] He then travelled to London for further studies in surgery, becoming a Member of the Royal College of Surgeons in 1812.

Jack was employed by the East India Company as a surgeon in India, where he corresponded extensively with botanist Nathaniel Wallich.[2] In 1818 he accompanied Stamford Raffles to Sumatra where he extensively documented the rich flora of that region until his death in 1822.[2] Much of his work, including manuscripts, drawings, and collections were destroyed by fire in 1824.[2]

He died at Bencoolen in Sumatra on 15 September 1822.

Botanical References

Three plant genera are named after him:[3]

Published works

References

  1. William Jackson Hooker (1835). "Description of Malayan plants by William Jack with a brief memoir of the author and extracts from his correspondence". Companion to the Botanical Magazine. 1: 121–147.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Elmer Drew Merrill (1952). "William Jack's genera and species of Malaysian plants". Journal of the Arnold Arboretum. 33 (3): 199–251.
  3. Stafleu, F.A.; Cowan, R.S. (1976–1988). Taxonomic literature: A selective guide to botanical publications and collections with dates, commentaries and types. Second Edition. Utrecht: Bohn, Scheltema and Holkema.
  4. "Tropicos".
  5. Stevens, P. F. "Angiosperm Phylogeny Website. Version 9, June 2008 [and more or less continuously updated since]".
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.