Alain Campbell White

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Alain Campbell White (born March 3, 1880 in Cannes , † April 23, 1951 in Summerville (South Carolina) ) was an American chess composer and botanist . The abbreviation “ ACWhite ” is used for his initial plant descriptions.

chess

White's parents came from America and traveled with him back to where he learned to play chess at the age of five . At the age of eleven he solved and composed chess problems, so that his first problem was published as early as December 1891. White met the chess composer Sam Loyd , which made him an ardent follower of chess composition. In 1914 he founded the Good Companions Club , to which almost all known chess composers belonged. There were monthly tournaments held there and a monthly club newspaper was printed. When White had to leave the club for health reasons in the mid-1920s, the club soon broke up.

When White was twelve years old, he inherited a collection of about 5,000 three-bred men . Over the years White expanded this collection, and thanks to a scientific system he had developed, many employees were able to help him, so that by the mid-1930s, when he handed over the collection to England and divided it up, it contained around a quarter of a million chess problems.

White wrote many chess books, including the 44-volume Christmas Series published from 1905 to 1936 , which he marked with the note “Wishing You a Merry Christmas. Alain C. White ”as a Christmas present to his chess friends around the world. During the First World War , they were brought to Germany via Switzerland . He also distributed other books free of charge as he worked on the collection of exercises.

botany

From 1908 White began to study botany scientifically, which after 1930 became a serious occupation for him. With Boyd Lincoln Sloane , White created the White Sloane Collection, initially a collection of general botanical nature, but later specialized in Stapeliinae , which in 1942 was the largest and most important in the United States. White conducted studies on the plants and collected specimens to obtain data on them. In 1933 White and Sloane published the book The Stapelieae with the subtitle An introduction to the study of this tribe of Asclepiadaceae , the expanded three-volume edition of which in 1937 (see works) was regarded as the most important work in this special field. While working on Stapeliinae, White's interest came across Euphorbiaceae , which he also researched. He also wrote several books about this with R. A. Dyer from South Africa and Sloane.

The plant genus White-sloanea Chiov is named after White and Boyd Lincoln Sloane . from the family of the dog poison plants (Apocynaceae).

Private

White's father, John J. White, was a lawyer.

White studied at Harvard University from 1898 to 1902 , where he graduated magna cum laude and was in Phi Beta Kappa , and then went to Columbia University , where he graduated with a master's degree in 1904. While still a student, he won the Lantham Prize of the Dante Society of America for an essay on Dante Alighieri and wrote other books on Italian history. Later he devoted himself to language studies. Eventually, during his life, White traveled to many countries including Canada , Russia , Egypt , France , Germany, and Italy .

In 1913, White established the White Memorial Foundation , which maintained parks and recreation facilities in Connecticut. White remained a bachelor and lived with his sister May until the end of his life, to whom he dedicated all his books.

After 1930, White's health deteriorated markedly, and his eyesight in particular deteriorated significantly. Nevertheless, he was still able to compose and in 1950 he was still able to receive the congratulations on his 70th birthday. He died on April 23, 1951.

He donated a 4,000 acre park near Bantam and Litchfield (Connecticut) where he lived, which is run by his foundation.

Works (selection)

Chess :

  • Alain C. White: Les mille et un Mats Inverses . Numa Preti, Paris 1907
  • Alain C. White: The White Rooks . Christmas Series, Stroud 1910
  • Alain C. White: The Theory of Pawn Promotion . Stroud 1912
  • Alain C. White and George Hume: Valves and Bi-Valves . Christmas Series, Stroud, USA, 1930

Botany :

  • Alain White & Boyd L. Sloane: The Stapelieae - an introduction to the study of this tribe of Asclepiadaceae . S. E. Haselton, Pasadena 1933 (first edition)
  • Alain White & Boyd L. Sloane: The Stapelieae . 2nd edition. 3 volumes. Pasadena 1937

History :

  • Alain C. White: The History of the Town of Litchfield, Connecticut, 1720-1920 . Litchfield Historical Society 1920

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b c Major Montgomery: Alain C. White . In: Chess Life . May 25, 1951
  2. ↑ IPNI Author details . Retrieved September 21, 2009
  3. ^ A Sketchbook of American Chess Problematists . Volume 2, Overbrook Press, 1942. pp. 143-145
  4. ↑ Lotte Burkhardt: Directory of eponymous plant names - Extended Edition. Part I and II. Botanic Garden and Botanical Museum Berlin , Freie Universität Berlin , Berlin 2018, ISBN 978-3-946292-26-5 doi: 10.3372 / epolist2018 .
  5. ↑ Vincent L. Eaton: Mate the subtle way! . Column in: Chess Life . May 25, 1951
  6. ↑ About the White Memorial Conservation Center ( Memento of the original from July 30, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . Retrieved September 21, 2009 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.whitememorialcc.org

Web links

personal data
SURNAME White, Alain Campbell
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American chess composition writer and botanist
DATE OF BIRTH March 3, 1880
PLACE OF BIRTH Cannes , France
DATE OF DEATH April 23, 1951
Place of death Summerville, South Carolina