John Macqueen Cowan
{{Short description|Scottish botanist (1891–1960)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2017}}
{{Use British English|date=December 2017}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name = John Macqueen Cowan
| image =
| image_size =
| alt =
| caption =
| birth_date = 1891
| birth_place = Banchory, Scotland
| death_date = 1960
| death_place =
| nationality = Scottish
| fields = Botany, Spermatophyte
| workplaces = Indian Forest Service, Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, Inverewe Garden
| alma_mater = University of Edinburgh, University of Oxford
| thesis_title=
| thesis_url =
| thesis_year =
| known_for = Studies on trees in the Indian sub-continent
| awards = Veitch Memorial Medal (1951), Victoria Medal of Honour (1958), Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) (1952)
| spouse = Adeline May Organe
| children = Pauline Cowan
Joan Cowan (1922–1954)
Robert Cowan
}}
John Macqueen Cowan FRSE CBE (1891–1960) was a prominent Scottish botanist in the mid 20th century.{{cite web|url=http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/c/F52883|title=Cowan, John Macqueen (1892-1960) Botanist|website=The National Archives|accessdate=11 September 2018}} He is especially remembered for the recording and classification of trees on the Indian sub-continent. He was also an expert on Spermatophytes.{{cite book|author=Harman, Oren Solomon|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EkTSImo6BcgC&pg=PA62|title=The Man Who Invented the Chromosone: The Life of Cyril Darlington|year=2004|page=62|isbn = 9780674013339}}{{cite web|url=http://kiki.huh.harvard.edu/databases/botanist_search.php?id=12822|title=HUH - Databases - Botanist Search|website=kiki.huh.harvard.edu|accessdate=11 September 2018}}
Life
Cowan was born in Banchory in northern Scotland in 1891. He was educated at Robert Gordon's College in Aberdeen. He then attended both Edinburgh and Oxford University training as a botanist, specialising in trees, receiving a postgraduate doctorate (DSc) from Edinburgh in 1927.{{Cite book|last=Cowan|first=J. M.|date=1927|title=The forests of Kalimpong: an ecological account|publisher=The University of Edinburgh|postscript=; doctoral dissertation|url=https://era.ed.ac.uk/handle/1842/30977|language=en}} From 1927 to 1929 he worked with the Indian Forest Service and conducted many studies of tree species throughout India.
In February 1929 he made a study trip around the Near East with fellow botanist Cyril Darlington.
He worked at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh 1930 to 1954 alongside Roland Edgar Cooper (both then under William Wright Smith). In 1954 Cowan took over as Curator of Inverewe Garden on the west coast of Scotland. During the Second World War he provided valuable advice to the Ministry of Supply in relation to the Home-Grown Timber Production Department.
In 1931 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh his proposers including Sir William Wright Smith, William Grant Craib and Albert William Borthwick.
He served as president of the Botanical Society of Edinburgh for 1951–53. He was awarded the Veitch Memorial Medal in 1951 and the Victoria Medal of Honour in 1958.{{cite book|editor=Desmond, Ray|title=Dictionary of British and Irish Botanists and Horticulturists|year=1994|publisher=CRC Press|page=173|isbn=9780850668438|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=thmPzIltAV8C&pg=PA173}}
Queen Elizabeth created him a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 1952.
He died in 1960.
Publications
- The Flora of the Chakaria Sundarbans (1928); [https://lccn.loc.gov/agr28001503 Library of Congress Catalog entry]
- with Adeline May Cowan: The Trees of Northern Bengal (1929){{cite web|title=The Trees of Northern Bengal by A M. Cowan & J. M. Cowan|website=catalog entry, Smithsonian Libraries & Archives|url=https://www.si.edu/object/siris_sil_130236}}
- The Forests of Kalimpong (1929); [https://lccn.loc.gov/agr30000020 Library of Congress Catalog entry]
- Nature Study Talks on Animals and Plants (1929)
- [https://archive.org/details/notes-from-royal-botanic-garden-edinburgh-19-091-001-062/page/1/mode/2up The History of the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh] (1935)
- A Guide to the Younger Botanic Garden at Benmore, Argyllshire (1937)
- The Rhododendron Leaf (1949) {{asin|B0000CHUO7}}
- The Wildlife of the Sundarbans Chakaria (1952)
Family
Cowan married fellow-botanist Adeline May Organe (died 1981). Their second daughter was Pauline Cowan (born 1926) who, as Pauline Harrison, was later given a personal Chair in the Department of Biochemistry at Sheffield University.International Who’s Who of Women, 2002[https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/mbb/welcome/n-chairs/p-m-h Professor Pauline Harrison, Department of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, Sheffield University].
Botanical References
{{botanist|Cowan|Cowan, John Macqueen}}
References
{{Reflist}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cowan, John Macqueen}}
Category:People educated at Robert Gordon's College
Category:Alumni of the University of Edinburgh
Category:Alumni of the University of Oxford
Category:20th-century Scottish botanists
Category:Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh
Category:Commanders of the Order of the British Empire