John McLean Thompson
Life
He was born in Rothesay on the isle of Bute in western Scotland on 22 July 1888, the son of Hugh Thompson. He was educated at Rothesay Academy then studied Science at Glasgow University, graduating MA in 1908 and BSc in 1911. In 1914 he began lecturing in Botany at Glasgow University.Royal Society of Edinburgh Yearbook 1978
From 1913 to 1926 he corresponded with the botanist Frederick Orpen Bower.{{cite web|url=http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/c/F34871|title=Thompson, John Mclean (1887-1977), botanist|website=The National Archives|accessdate=2018-11-10}}
In the First World War he was attached to various military hospitals as a protozoologist studying infected wounds.
In 1917 Thompson was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. His proposers were Frederick Orpen Bower, Sir John Graham Kerr, Thomas Hastie Bryce and John Walter Gregory. He won that society's Neill Prize for the period 1921 to 1923.{{cite book|title=Biographical Index of Former Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 1783–2002|date=July 2006|publisher=The Royal Society of Edinburgh|isbn=0-902-198-84-X|url=https://www.royalsoced.org.uk/cms/files/fellows/biographical_index/fells_indexp2.pdf|access-date=10 November 2018|archive-date=4 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304074135/https://www.royalsoced.org.uk/cms/files/fellows/biographical_index/fells_indexp2.pdf|url-status=dead}}
In 1918 he returned to Glasgow as a lecturer in Plant Morphology. In 1921 he was created Professor of Botany at Liverpool University and remained in that role until retirement in 1952. Among his doctoral students was the botanist and phycologist Elsie Conway.
The University of Louvain awarded Thompson an honorary doctorate (DSc) in 1948.
He died on 17 April 1977, aged 89.
Publications
- The Anatomy and Affinity of Deparia Moorei Hook (1915)
- Studies in Advancing Sterility (1929)
- The Theory of Scitaminean Flowering (1933)
- On the Floral Morphology of Elettaria Cardomomum Maton (1936)
Family
In 1920 he married Dr Simone Denil.
References
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Category:People from Rothesay, Bute
Category:People educated at Rothesay Academy
Category:Alumni of the University of Glasgow
Category:Academics of the University of Glasgow
Category:Academics of the University of Liverpool
Category:Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh
Category:Fellows of the Linnean Society of London
Category:20th-century Scottish botanists
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