Christopher Donald Pigott (7 April 1928 – 11 September 2022) was a British

botanist Botany, also called , plant biology or phytology, is the science of plant life and a branch of biology. A botanist, plant scientist or phytologist is a scientist who specialises in this field. The term "botany" comes from the Ancient Greek wo ...

who was the fourth

Director, Cambridge University Botanic Garden The academic position of Director, Cambridge University Botanic Garden was created in 1921. Directors * Humphrey Gilbert-Carter (1921) * John Gilmour (1951) * Max Walters (1973) * Donald Pigott (1984) * John Parker (1996) * Tim Upson (Acting) ...

(1984–1995), succeeding

Max Walters Stuart Max Walters (born Oughtibridge, Sheffield, Yorkshire 23 May 1920 – died Grantchester, Cambridgeshire 11 December 2005) was a British botanist and academic. As a conscientious objector in the Second World War, he worked as a hospital or ...

Life and career

Pigott was born on 7 April 1928. He was educated at Cambridge from 1946, where he was taught by two previous Directors,

Humphrey Gilbert-Carter Humphrey Gilbert-Carter (1884–1969) was a British botanist and the first scientific director of the Cambridge Botanic Garden (1921–1950), being succeeded by John Gilmour. The second son of the colonial governor Sir Thomas Gilbert-Carter a ...

(1921–1950) and

(1973–1983). Forming a friendship with the latter he was persuaded to spend the summer of 1949 in

Uppsala Uppsala (, or all ending in , ; archaically spelled ''Upsala'') is the county seat of Uppsala County and the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, fourth-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm, Gothenburg, and Malmö. It had 177,074 inha ...

and

Helsinki Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the Capital city, capital, primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Finland, most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of U ...

universities where he was impressed by the mapping of the Scandinavian

flora Flora is all the plant life present in a particular region or time, generally the naturally occurring (indigenous) native plants. Sometimes bacteria and fungi are also referred to as flora, as in the terms '' gut flora'' or '' skin flora''. E ...

and returned to work with Walters on similar projects for the British Isles and used this method in his PhD thesis on

Thyme Thyme () is the herb (dried aerial parts) of some members of the genus ''Thymus'' of aromatic perennial evergreen herbs in the mint family Lamiaceae. Thymes are relatives of the oregano genus ''Origanum'', with both plants being mostly indigenou ...

. Under Professor

Harry Godwin Sir Harry Godwin, FRS (9 May 1901 – 12 August 1985) was a prominent English botanist and ecologist of the 20th century. He is considered to be an influential peatland scientist, who coined the phrase "peat archives" in 1981. He had a long ass ...

he also worked on the design of the Botanic Garden's ecological mound. After leaving Cambridge he moved to

Sheffield University , mottoeng = To discover the causes of things , established = – University of SheffieldPredecessor institutions: – Sheffield Medical School – Firth College – Sheffield Technical School – University College of Sheffield , type = Pu ...

as Lecturer in Botany. He returned to Cambridge in 1984 to become Director of the Garden. On leaving Cambridge in 1995 he was succeeded by John Parker and was appointed to the chair in Biology at

Lancaster University Lancaster University (legally The University of Lancaster) is a public university, public research university in Lancaster, Lancashire, Lancaster, Lancashire, England. The university was established in 1964 by royal charter, as one of several pla ...

and subsequently as

Emeritus professor ''Emeritus'' (; female: ''emerita'') is an adjective used to designate a retired chair, professor, pastor, bishop, pope, director, president, prime minister, rabbi, emperor, or other person who has been "permitted to retain as an honorary title ...

. He married fellow Cambridge botanist Sheila Megaw with whom he collaborated. Pigott died in

Cartmel Cartmel is a village in Cumbria, England, northwest of Grange-over-Sands close to the River Eea. The village takes its name from the Cartmel Peninsula, and was historically known as Kirkby in Cartmel. The village is the location of the 12th- ...

Cumbria Cumbria ( ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in North West England, bordering Scotland. The county and Cumbria County Council, its local government, came into existence in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972. Cumb ...

on 11 September 2022, at the age of 94.

Work

During Pigott's tenure as Director, the great storm of 1987 caused considerable damage to the Garden. In 1990 the University carried out a review which suggested the research aspects of the garden were of decreasing relevance as plant sciences shifted in emphasis from whole plant botany to the cellular and molecular level. Pigott vigorously and successfully defended the Garden's scientific value. Pigott was known for his work on the

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...

Tilia ''Tilia'' is a genus of about 30 species of trees or bushes, native throughout most of the temperateness, temperate Northern Hemisphere. The tree is known as linden for the European species, and basswood for North American species. In Britain a ...

'' (lime trees,

Malvaceae Malvaceae, or the mallows, is a family of flowering plants estimated to contain 244 genera with 4225 known species. Well-known members of economic importance include okra, cotton, cacao and durian. There are also some genera containing familiar ...

), and was the

botanical authority In botanical nomenclature, author citation is the way of citing the person or group of people who validly published a botanical name, i.e. who first published the name while fulfilling the formal requirements as specified by the '' International Co ...

for several taxa in that genus, such as: * ''Tilia amurensis'' subsp. ''taquetii'' (C.K. Schneid.) Pigott * '' Tilia dasystyla'' subsp. ''caucasica'' (V.Engl.) Pigott Pigott also carried out a number of

botanical expeditions Botanical expeditions (sometimes called "Plant hunting") are scientific voyages designed to explore the flora of a particular region, either as a specific design or part of a larger expedition. A naturalist or botanist would be responsible for id ...

with his wife and with Anthony Hall.

Selected publications

References

Bibliography

* ** , in * * * * 1928 births 2022 deaths Alumni of the University of Cambridge English botanists {{UK-botanist-stub