Arthur Tansley

Arthur Tansley
Born August 15, 1871(1871-08-15)
Died November 25, 1955(1955-11-25) (aged 84)
Notable students Alexander Watt
Known for New Phytologist
Notable awards Fellow of the Royal Society[1]

Sir Arthur George Tansley FRS[1] (15 August 1871 - 25 November 1955) was an English botanist who was a pioneer in the science of ecology.[2] He obtained his degree in Biological Science in 1896, with specialization in botany and zoology. From the start, he was much influenced by the Danish plant ecologist Eugenius Warming.[3] He championed the term ecosystem in 1935 and ecotope in 1939. He was one of the founders of the British Ecological Society, and editor of the Journal of Ecology for twenty years. [4][5]

The botany journal New Phytologist, which Tansley founded in 1902[6], publishes a special paper in each issue called the "Tansley Review"[7]. This series, featuring articles that synthesize current trends in botanical thought, was named after Tansley in recognition of his wide interests and importance to the discipline as a whole. The Tansley Medal[8] is awarded annually and named in his honour.

The 1926 Aims and methods in the study of vegetation which Tansley and Thomas Ford Chipp edited for the British Empire vegetation committee was extremely influential not just in defining ecological methods but in highlighting the need for a complete inventory of the empire's "vegetational assets". With this information, it would be possible to efficiently manage the vast natural resources of the empire.[9] Arthur Tansley also theorised about psychology, with a psychoanalytic emphasis, and wrote an obituary of Sigmund Freud[10][11]. His The New Psychology and its Relation to Life (1920) [12] was his first book to attract a broad readership. Recent research by Peder Anker has asserted a close theoretical relationship between Tansley's ecology and his psychology.[13]

References

The standard author abbreviation Tansley is used to indicate this individual as the author when citing a botanical name.[14]
  1. ^ a b Godwin, H. (1957). "Arthur George Tansley. 1871-1955". Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society 3: 227–226. doi:10.1098/rsbm.1957.0016.  edit
  2. ^ Cooper, W. S. (1957). "Sir Arthur Tansley and the Science of Ecology". Ecology 38 (4): 658–659. doi:10.2307/1943136.  edit
  3. ^ Tansley, A. G. (1947). "The Early History of Modern Plant Ecology in Britain". Journal of Ecology 35 (1): 130–137. doi:10.2307/2256503.  edit
  4. ^ Godwin, H. (1958). "Sir Arthur George Tansley, F. R. S. 1871-1955". Journal of Ecology 46 (1): 1–8. doi:10.2307/2256899.  edit
  5. ^ Godwin, H. (1977). "Sir Arthur Tansley: The Man and the Subject: The Tansley Lecture, 1976". Journal of Ecology 65 (1): 1–26. doi:10.2307/2259059.  edit
  6. ^ http://www.newphytologist.org/tansley Sir Arthur Tansley
  7. ^ http://www.newphytologist.org/tansleysearch.asp New Phytologist, Tansley Reviews
  8. ^ Ian Woodward, F.; Hetherington, A. M. (2010). "The New Phytologist Tansley Medal". New Phytologist 186 (2): 263–264. doi:10.1111/j.1469-8137.2010.03247.x. PMID 20409180.  edit
  9. ^ Joseph Morgan Hodge (2007). Triumph of the expert: Agrarian doctrines of development and the legacies of British colonialism. Ohio University Press. p. 144. ISBN 0821417185. http://books.google.ca/books?id=KVMD0WoUwn4C&pg=PA144. 
  10. ^ Tansley, A. G. (1941). "Sigmund Freud. 1856-1939". Obituary Notices of Fellows of the Royal Society 3 (9): 246–226. doi:10.1098/rsbm.1941.0002.  edit
  11. ^ Cameron, L. (1999). "'A nice type of the English scientist': Tansley and Freud". History Workshop Journal 1999 (48): 64–10. doi:10.1093/hwj/1999.48.64.  edit
  12. ^ OCLC 1278592
  13. ^ Anker, Peder (2001). Imperial ecology: environmental order in the British Empire, 1895-1945. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. ISBN 0-674-00595-3. 
  14. ^ "Author Query". International Plant Names Index. http://www.ipni.org/ipni/authorsearchpage.do. 

External links