Irene Manton

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Irene Manton about 1955

Irene Manton, FRS[1] (born Irène Manton; 17 April 1904, Kensington – died 13 May 1988) was a British botanist. She was noted for study of ferns and algae.

Biography

Irene Manton was born of a dentist and a descendant of French aristocracy. Hence her first name originally contained French influences, but at 18 she dropped this and opted for "Irene". Her sister was the entomologist Sidnie Manton FRS. She was educated at the Froebel Demonstration School and St. Paul's Girls' School, Hammersmith.

In 1923 she attended Girton College, Cambridge. She found Cambridge unsatisfying, in part because the university as a whole was not yet welcoming of women, and later went on to study with Gustaf Otto Rosenberg in Stockholm. She received her PhD at the University of Manchester with her thesis being on Cruciferae.

Much of her academic career was spent at the University of Leeds where she was Professor of Botany from 1946 until 1969 [2] and where her focus was on ferns and algae. The work with ferns, which addressed hybridization, polyploidy, and apomixis, included her 1950 book, Problems of cytology and evolution in the pteridophyta. Her work on the algae was notable for its use of the electron microscope.[1][3]

Honours

In 1969 Manton shared the Linnean Medal with Ethelwynn Trewavas.

She was appointed as the first female President of the Linnean Society of London from 1973 to 1976.

She was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in March 1961.[4]

Legacy

A plaque at the University of Leeds commemorating discoveries made by Manton at the University.

In 1990 the Irene Manton Prize for the best dissertation in botany during an academic year was established by the Linnean Society.

In 1998, the tenth anniversary of her death, the Biological Sciences building at the University of Leeds was named the Irene Manton Building in her honour.[2]

The standard author abbreviation Manton is used to indicate this individual as the author when citing a botanical name.[5]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Preston, Reginald Dawson (1990). "Irene Manton. 17 April 1904-13 May 1988". Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society 35: 248. doi:10.1098/rsbm.1990.0011. 
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 University of Leeds, Reporter 420, 11 May 1998
  3. ↑ Linnean Society biography
  4. ↑ "Lists of Royal Society Fellows 1660-2007". London: The Royal Society. Retrieved 14 July 2010. 
  5. ↑ "Author Query for 'Manton'". International Plant Names Index. 
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