Life and Letters of Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker O.M., G.C.S.I.

The standard biography of the botanist, of which this second volume covers up to the end of his long life.

Joseph Dalton Hooker (Author), Leonard Huxley (Edited by)

9781108031011, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 1 May 2011

592 pages, 5 b/w illus.
21.6 x 3.3 x 14 cm, 0.75 kg

Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker (1817–1911) was one of the most eminent botanists of the later nineteenth century. Educated at Glasgow, he developed his studies of plant life by examining specimens all over the world. After several successful scientific expeditions, first to the Antarctic and later to India, he was appointed to succeed his father as Director of the Botanical Gardens at Kew. Hooker was the first to hear of and support Charles Darwin's theory of natural selection, and over their long friendship the two scientists exchanged many letters. Another close friend was the scientist T. H. Huxley, and it was the latter's son, Leonard (1860–1933), who published this standard biography in 1918. The second volume details Hooker's management of Kew, his later travels, and the end of his long life.

28. Economic botany and the new floras
29. Scientific work, 1860–5
30. 1860–5: personal
31. Kew, St. Petersburg, and Marocco
32. Darwinian interests
33. The presidency of the Royal Society
34. The presidency (continued)
35. The Ayrton episode
36. Life and friendship at Kew
37. Loss and gain
38. America: and geographical distribution
39. End of the presidential term (1877–8)
40. Kew: 1879–85
41. Retirement, to 1897: botanical work
42. Retirement, to 1897: Darwiniana and other scientific interests
43. Retirement, to 1897: of books and opinions
44. Miscellaneous letters: 1886–97
45. The 'Lion' letters
46. Final botanical work
47. Further problems of economic botany
48. Hooker's position as botanist F. O. Bower
49. Personalia: 1898–1906
50. The last years
Appendices
Index.

Subject Areas: History of science [PDX]