Ghillean Prance

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Ghillean T. Prance
Born (1937-07-13) July 13, 1937 (age 86)[1]
Brandeston, Suffolk, England[1]
Nationality British
Fields Botany
Institutions New York Botanical Garden (1963–1988)[1]
Known for Director of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (1988–1999)[2]
Notable awards Linnean Medal (1990)
International Cosmos Prize (1993)
Fellow of the Royal Society[2]

Sir Ghillean Tolmie Prance FIBiol FRS FLS FRS (born 13 July 1937) is a prominent British botanist and ecologist[3] who has published extensively[4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15] on the taxonomy of families such as Chrysobalanaceae and Lecythidaceae, but drew particular attention in documenting the pollination ecology of Victoria amazonica.[16][17] Prance is a former Director of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.[2]

Early life

Prance was born on 13 July 1937 in Brandeston, Suffolk, England.[1] He was educated at Malvern College and Keble College, Oxford.[18] In 1963 he received a D. Phil. in Forest Botany from the Commonwealth Forestry Institute.[1]

Career

Prance worked from 1963 at The New York Botanical Garden, initially as a research assistant and, on his departure in 1988, as Director of the Institute of Economic Botany and Senior Vice-President for Science.[1] Much of his career at the New York Botanical Garden was spent conducting extensive fieldwork in the Amazon region of Brazil.[1] He was Director of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew from 1988 to 1999.[2]

Current work

Since his retirement he has remained very active, notably involving himself with the Eden Project. Prance, a devout Christian, is currently the chair of A Rocha[19] and was president of Christians in Science 2002–08.[20]

He is actively involved on environmental issues, a trustee of the Amazon Charitable Trust,[18] and a Vice-President of the Nature in Art Trust.[21]

Honours

Prance was knighted in 1995. He has been a Fellow of the Linnean Society since 1961, a Fellow of the Royal Society since 1993 and was awarded the Victoria Medal of Honour in 1999.[2] He was awarded the Patron's Gold Medal of the Royal Geographical Society in 1994.[22]

In 2000 he was made a Commander of the Order of the Southern Cross by the President of Brazil.[18] In 2012 he was awarded the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays and Neck Ribbon by the Government of Japan.[23]

Legacy

Two photographic portraits of Prance are held at the National Portrait Gallery, London.[24]

A biography of Prance was written by Clive Langmead.[3]

Video

References

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  23. http://www.uk.emb-japan.go.jp/en/webmagazine/2012/dec/1211.html
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External links