Paul Claude Silva (October 31, 1922 – June 12, 2014) was a phycologist,

marine biologist Marine biology is the scientific study of the biology of marine life, organisms in the sea. Given that in biology many scientific classification, phyla, family (biology), families and genera have some species that live in the sea and others th ...

, and

algal Algae (; singular alga ) is an informal term for a large and diverse group of photosynthetic eukaryotic organisms. It is a polyphyletic grouping that includes species from multiple distinct clades. Included organisms range from unicellular mic ...

taxonomist In biology, taxonomy () is the scientific study of naming, defining ( circumscribing) and classifying groups of biological organisms based on shared characteristics. Organisms are grouped into taxa (singular: taxon) and these groups are given ...

considered to be the world's leading expert in the

chlorophyte Chlorophyta or Prasinophyta is a taxon of green algae informally called chlorophytes. The name is used in two very different senses, so care is needed to determine the use by a particular author. In older classification systems, it refers to a ...

green algal genus ''

Codium ''Codium'' is a genus of seaweed in the Chlorophyta of the order Bryopsidales. Paul Silva was an expert on the genus ''Codium'' taxonomy at the University of California, Berkeley. There are about 50 species worldwide. Description The genus ha ...

''. Silva was also an expert in botanical nomenclature and was an editor of the

International Code of Botanical Nomenclature The ''International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants'' (ICN) is the set of rules and recommendations dealing with the formal botanical names that are given to plants, fungi and a few other groups of organisms, all those "trad ...

's Eighth through Sixteenth International Botanical Congresses.

Biography

Silva completed his undergraduate degree at the

University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in C ...

, though his education was interrupted by

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. He served in the

US Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage of ...

on the USS Darby, participating in the

Battle of Leyte Gulf The Battle of Leyte Gulf ( fil, Labanan sa golpo ng Leyte, lit=Battle of Leyte gulf; ) was the largest naval battle of World War II and by some criteria the largest naval battle in history, with over 200,000 naval personnel involved. It was fou ...

. He attended

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...

for his master's degree studying under

Gilbert Morgan Smith Gilbert Morgan Smith (6 January 1885, Beloit, Wisconsin – 11 July 1959) was a botanist and phycologist, who worked primarily on the algae. He was best known for his books, particularly the ''Freshwater Algae of the United States'', the ''Marine ...

, and

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

for his Ph.D. Silva later worked as a Research Botanist and Curator of Algae at the UCB herbarium.

Honours

He has been honoured in the naming of several taxa of algae. In 1999, ''

Silvetia ''Silvetia'' is a genus of brown algae, commonly known as rockweed, found in the intertidal zone of rocky seashores of the Pacific Ocean. These were originally classified as members of the genus ''Pelvetia''. In 1999, ''Silvetia sp.'' was created ...

'' In the

Fucaceae The Fucaceae are a family of brown algae, containing six genera: *''Ascophyllum'' Stackhouse – one species *''Fucus'' L. – 15 species *'' Hesperophycus'' Setchell & Gardner – one species *'' Pelvetia'' Decne. & Thur. – one species *'' Pel ...

family) was published by botanists E.A.Serrão, T.O.Cho, S.M.Boo & Brawley. and then in 2002, '' Paulsilvella'' (in the Subfamily

Lithophylloideae The Lithophylloideae are a monophyletic subfamily of Corallinaceaen Coralline algae with uniporate conceptacle Conceptacles are specialized cavities of marine and freshwater algae that contain the reproductive organs. They are situated in the r ...

) was published by Woelk., Sartoni & Boddi.

References

External links

* http://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/CPD/algal_research.html {{DEFAULTSORT:Silva, Paul American phycologists 1922 births 2014 deaths American marine biologists University of California, Berkeley alumni University of California, Berkeley faculty American physiologists United States Navy personnel of World War II