Per Magnus Jørgensen (born 1944) is a Norwegian

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 ...

and lichenologist, and

Professor Emeritus ''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 ...

of systematic botany at the

University of Bergen The University of Bergen ( no, Universitetet i Bergen, ) is a research-intensive state university located in Bergen, Norway. As of 2019, the university has over 4,000 employees and 18,000 students. It was established by an act of parliament in 194 ...

. He is known for his work on the lichen families

Pannariaceae The Pannariaceae are a family of lichens in the order Peltigerales (suborder Collematineae). Species from this family have a widespread distribution, but are especially prevalent in southern temperate regions. Genera According to a recent (20 ...

and

Collemataceae The Collemataceae are a lichenized family of fungi in the order Peltigerales. The family contains ten genera and about 325 species. The family has a widespread distribution. Taxonomy The family was circumscribed by Jonathan Carl Zenker in 1827; ...

. Jørgensen was awarded the

Acharius Medal __NOTOC__ The Acharius Medal is awarded by the International Association for Lichenology (IAL) for lifetime achievement in lichenology. The organization resolved at its 1990 meeting that it would simultaneously honor professional achievement and c ...

in 2021 for his lifetime contributions to lichenology.

Biography

Jørgensen was born in

Stavanger Stavanger (, , American English, US usually , ) is a city and municipalities of Norway, municipality in Norway. It is the fourth largest city and third largest metropolitan area in Norway (through conurbation with neighboring Sandnes) and the a ...

, Norway, in 1944. He obtained his Candidatus realium from the

in 1969, where

Knut Fægri Knut Fægri (17 July 1909 – 10 December 2001) was a Norwegian botanist and palaeoecologist. Fægri was born in Bergen. He was the son of Major Ole A. Fægri (1875–1962) and Gudrun Stoltz (1881–1940) and the nephew of the botanist, natural ...

was his supervisor. In 1978, he earned a doctor philosophiae from

, with a dissertation titled "The lichen family Pannariaceae in Europe". He was a student of prominent lichenologist

Rolf Santesson Rolf Santesson (1916–2013) was a Swedish lichenologist and university lecturer. He was awarded the Acharius Medal in 1992 for his lifetime contributions to lichenology. Early life and education Santesson was born in 1916 in Trollhättan, Swe ...

;

Gunnar Degelius Gunnar Bror Fritiof Degelius (né Nilsson until 1932; 27 January 1903 – 22 July 1993) was a Swedish lichenologist. Between the publications of his first and final scientific papers, Degelius had a 70-year-long research career. While he was ...

was another early mentor. During his time as a student, he was recruited to work at the Botanical Garden in Bergen. A few years after receiving his doctorate, he was appointed

Professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who pr ...

of Systematic Botany at the University of Bergen in 1982. He was known for delivering his university lectures with great enthusiasm, and for helping to popularize botany in Norway. As of 2020, he is a

at the University of Bergen. Jørgensen is a member of the

Norwegian Academy of Sciences The Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters ( no, Det Norske Videnskaps-Akademi, DNVA) is a learned society based in Oslo, Norway. Its purpose is to support the advancement of science and scholarship in Norway. History The Royal Frederick Univer ...

. He has about 300 publications dealing with the

systematics Biological systematics is the study of the diversification of living forms, both past and present, and the relationships among living things through time. Relationships are visualized as evolutionary trees (synonyms: cladograms, phylogenetic tre ...

floristics {{Short pages monitor