William Philip Hiern (19 January 1839 – 28 November 1925) was a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

mathematician A mathematician is someone who uses an extensive knowledge of mathematics in their work, typically to solve mathematical problems. Mathematicians are concerned with numbers, data, quantity, structure, space, models, and change. History On ...

and botanist.

Life

Hiern attended St. John's College,

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a College town, university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cam ...

, from 1857 to 1861 and attained a "first class degree" in mathematics. Later, in 1886, he attended

Oxford University Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to th ...

. Upon his marriage he moved to Surrey and developed an interest in botany. In 1881, Hiern moved to Barnstaple in north

Devon Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devo ...

shire, and lived at the manor house adjacent to the Barnstaple Castle mound. Hiern was quite taken with the country squire role and he assumed many public duties including those of the Lord of the Manor of Stoke Rivers, northeast of Barnstaple, and he was one of the original aldermen of the County of Devon.

Contributions

Hiern published over 50 works on botanical subjects. Among his chief works was the catalogue of the plants Friedrich Welwitsch had collected in

Angola , national_anthem = " Angola Avante"() , image_map = , map_caption = , capital = Luanda , religion = , religion_year = 2020 , religion_ref = , coordina ...

Awards and honours

In 1903, Hiern was elected a fellow of the

Royal Society The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...

. The African

figwort The genus ''Scrophularia'' of the family Scrophulariaceae comprises about 200 species of herbaceous flowering plants commonly known as figworts. Species of ''Scrophularia'' all share square stems, opposite leaves and open two-lipped flowers for ...

genus '' Hiernia'' "Hiernia"
Plant Systemantics, a DOL (DiversityofLife.org) website was named in his honor, as was the ''Ixora hiernii'' (a tropical evergreen shrub), the ''Pavetta hierniana'' (an evergreen shrub) and the ''

Coffea canephora ''Coffea canephora'' ( syn. ''Coffea robusta'', commonly known as ''robusta coffee'') is a species of coffee that has its origins in central and western sub-Saharan Africa. It is a species of flowering plant in the family Rubiaceae. Though wid ...

'' var hiernii (a species of coffee plant). Gabon Ebony ('' Diospyros crassiflora'', itself the source of much taxonomic confusion over the years) was also first described by Hiern in 1873.

Notes

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Hiern, William Philip 19th-century British mathematicians 20th-century British mathematicians 1839 births 1925 deaths Alumni of St John's College, Cambridge British botanists Fellows of the Royal Society