Norman Loftus Bor CIE

OBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

FRSE Fellowship of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (FRSE) is an award granted to individuals that the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Scotland's national academy of science and letters, judged to be "eminently distinguished in their subject". This soci ...

FLS FNI (2 May 1893 – 22 December 1972) was an Irish

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 ...

. He was awarded the

Linnean Medal The Linnean Medal of the Linnean Society of London was established in 1888, and is awarded annually to alternately a botanist or a zoologist or (as has been common since 1958) to one of each in the same year. The medal was of gold until 1976, and ...

of the Linnean Society in 1962.

Life

Bor was born in

Tramore Tramore (; ) is a seaside town in County Waterford, on the southeast coast of Ireland. With humble origins as a small fishing village, the area saw rapid development upon the arrival of the railway from Waterford City in 1853. Initially, the to ...

County Waterford County Waterford ( ga, Contae Phort Láirge) is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster and is part of the South-East Region, Ireland, South-East Region. It is named ...

in Ireland in 1893, the son of E.C.N. Bor and Mabel Thornton. He studied at

Kilkenny Kilkenny (). is a city in County Kilkenny, Ireland. It is located in the South-East Region and in the province of Leinster. It is built on both banks of the River Nore. The 2016 census gave the total population of Kilkenny as 26,512. Kilken ...

and

Mountjoy School Mount Temple Comprehensive School is a secondary school in Clontarf, Dublin, Ireland. The school operates under the patronage of the Church of Ireland Archbishop of Dublin, and has, as a primary objective, the provision of state-funded second-le ...

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...

. He then received a BA at

Trinity College, Dublin , name_Latin = Collegium Sanctae et Individuae Trinitatis Reginae Elizabethae juxta Dublin , motto = ''Perpetuis futuris temporibus duraturam'' (Latin) , motto_lang = la , motto_English = It will last i ...

before travelling to Scotland to obtain a BSc at Edinburgh University in 1921. On graduating he received a post in the Indian Forest Service where he worked until 1946. During this period (in 1931) he married Eleanor Constance Rundall. During the First World War he served in the Connaught Rangers in France, Greece and Palestine. He was wounded in 1916. In 1946 he returned to Britain, and in 1948 took the post of Assistant Director of

Kew Gardens Kew Gardens is a botanical garden, botanic garden in southwest London that houses the "largest and most diverse botany, botanical and mycology, mycological collections in the world". Founded in 1840, from the exotic garden at Kew Park, its li ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

. He held this post until 1959 when he retired. His wife died in 1957. They had no children. In 1962 the Linnean Society awarded him their gold medal, the highest recognition a botanist can receive. He died in London in 1972. He was an elder brother of the actor

Max Adrian Max Adrian (born Guy Thornton Bor; 1 November 1903 – 19 January 1973) was an Irish stage, film and television actor and singer. He was a founding member of both the Royal Shakespeare Company and the National Theatre. In addition to his succ ...

, who died four weeks after him.

Memberships

*Member of the Indian National Science Academy *President of the

Indian Botanical Society The Indian Botanical Society (IBS) is the national learned society for botanists of India. It was founded in 1920. The Society's activities include lectures, symposia, field excursions, field projects and an annual society meeting for exchange of ...

*Fellow of the Linnean Society *Fellow of the

Royal Society of Edinburgh The Royal Society of Edinburgh is Scotland's national academy of science and letters. It is a registered charity that operates on a wholly independent and non-partisan basis and provides public benefit throughout Scotland. It was established i ...

(1947)

Works

*List of the Grasses of Assam (1938) *Flora of Assam (1940) *Floras of Cyprus and Iraq *Manuals of Indian Botany (1953) *Some Beautiful Indian Climbers and Shrubs (1954)

Botanical reference

References

1892 births 1972 deaths People educated at Kilkenny College People educated at Mount Temple Comprehensive School Alumni of the University of Edinburgh Companions of the Order of the Indian Empire Officers of the Order of the British Empire Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh Fellows of the Linnean Society of London Linnean Medallists 20th-century Irish botanists People from County Waterford {{Ireland-scientist-stub