Joseph Rock

Joseph Francis Charles Rock
Born 1884
Vienna, Austria
Died 1962 (aged 77–78)
Honolulu, Hawaii, United States
Citizenship naturalized American (May 1913)
Nationality Austrian (by birth)
Fields Botany
Institutions Honolulu
Alma mater Vienna Schotten Gymnasium and Universität Wien.
Doctoral advisor none
Other academic advisors none
Doctoral students none
Author abbrev. (botany) Rock

Joseph Francis Charles Rock (1884 – 1962) was an Austrian-American explorer, geographer, linguist and botanist.

Life

He was born in Vienna, Austria, went to Egypt at the age of 10 with his father, and later wandered about in Europe. But on an impulse, he emigrated to the United States in 1905 (New York) and moved to Honolulu, Hawaii in 1907, where he eventually became an authority on the flora there. He first taught full-time (there were two others) at Mills College (now known as Mid-Pacific Institute), and was placed on leave in Sept. 1908 for health reasons (he needed to be out-of-doors). As the Territory of Hawaii's first official botanist, he joined the faculty of the College of Hawaii; the name was changed in 1920 to become the University of Hawaii in 1911, established its first herbarium, and served as its first curator from 1911 until 1920, when he left the college to spend the next few decades exploring the botany of Asia.[1]

Tribu Mishmi by Joseph Rock in 1922 .
Joseph Rock's house in Yuhu Village, Lijiang.

During the Ngolok rebellions (1917-1949) Rock witnessed repeated battles by the Ma Clique's Chinese Muslim army against the Ngolok Tibetans in Xiahe County and Labrang Monastery. The Ma Muslim army left Tibetan skeletons scattered over a wide area, and the Labrang monastery was decorated with decapitated Tibetan heads.[2] After the 1929 battle of Xiahe near Labrang, decapitated Tibetan heads were used as ornaments by Chinese Muslim troops in their camp, 154 in total. Rock described "young girls and children"'s heads staked around the military encampment. Ten to fifteen heads were fastened to the saddle of every Muslim cavalryman.[3] The heads were "strung about the walls of the Moslem garrison like a garland of flowers."[4]

In March 2009, the University of Hawaii at Manoa named its herbarium after him.[1] Works and collections by and from Rock are held in the Library of Congress.[5]

Plants named after him

The Hawaiian endemic species 'Lobelia rockii' of Molokai; the spectacular Tree Peony or Rock's Peony 'Paeonia rockii' from the Gansu mountains of western China, and the yellow-berried Mountain Ash Sorbus 'Joseph Rock'[6] are named after Rock.

Works

Rock produced a 1,094-page dictionary, numerous scholarly papers, and two histories of the Nakhi (Naxi) people and language of northwestern Yunnan, which have been widely used for the study of Nakhi culture, language and religion. These books are out-of-print and, consequently, command very high prices in the rare book markets.

The most important of his written works are:

See also

References

  1. 1 2 "Botanist, famed explorer honored at UH Manoa: Herbarium to carry name of Joseph F. Rock". 2009-03-06. Retrieved 2009-03-16.
  2. ↑ Dean King (2010). Unbound: A True Story of War, Love, and Survival (illustrated ed.). Hachette Digital, Inc. ISBN 0-316-16708-8. Retrieved 2010-06-28.
  3. ↑ Paul Hattaway (2004). Peoples of the Buddhist world: a Christian prayer diary. William Carey Library. p. 4. ISBN 0-87808-361-8. Retrieved 2011-05-29.
  4. ↑ Gary Geddes (2008). Kingdom of Ten Thousand Things: An Impossible Journey from Kabul to Chiapas (illustrated ed.). Sterling Publishing Company, Inc. p. 175. ISBN 1-4027-5344-6. Retrieved 2011-05-29.
  5. ↑ "Biographical Records of the Royal Mu Family". World Digital Library. 1931. Retrieved 2013-06-20.
  6. ↑ https://www.rhs.org.uk/Plants/95813/Sorbus-Joseph-Rock/Details

Further reading

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