Kenneth D. Hill
Kenneth D. Hill , also Ken Hill (born August 6, 1948 in Armidale , New South Wales , † August 4, 2010 in Sydney ), was an Australian botanist . Its botanical author abbreviation is " KDHill ".
Early years
Ken Hill was born in Armidale and grew up on a farm in Guyra . He attended "Guyra Central School" and then "Armidale High School". Even as a child he was very interested in plants. After graduating from high school, he studied at the University of New England , where he earned a Bachelor of Sciences (B.Sc. (Hons.)) And then a Master of Science (M.Sc.) degree in geology . He also took additional courses in botany .
Working life
Hill initially worked as an expedition geologist in the Northern Territory and Sudan .
In 1983 he joined the Royal Botanic Gardens in Sydney as a technical assistant at the National Herbarium of New South Wales . Under the direction of Lawrence Alexander Sidney Johnson and together with Don Blaxell he set about reorganizing the eucalypts . In addition, he wrote descriptions of the nude for "Flora of Australia". In 1986 Hill was officially hired as a botanist and continued his work on reorganizing the eucalypts. As a continuation of his work on the "Flora of Australia", he began with descriptions of the sago palm ferns ( Cycas ). He was also significantly involved in the discovery, naming, description and investigation of wool chemistry in 1995.
From mid-1997 to mid-1998 Hill was posted to the Royal Botanic Gardens in Kew , London , as the Australian Botanical Liaison Officer . From 1999 to 2004 he worked as a "Senior Research Scientist" in the National Herbarium of New South Wales.
Ken Hill created a number of websites documenting plants. So he made a name for himself as a "botanical computer scientist". Examples of this are “The Cycad Pages”, “NSW Flora Online”, “EucaLink” and “WattleWeb” (now “PlantNET”). He traveled all over Australia and later also the Asian-Pacific region, which has not yet been botanically explored, and studied eucalyptus and sago palm ferns. It belonged to the "IUCN / SSS Cycad Specialist Group" and played an important role in the inclusion of the threatened Asian and Australian sago palm ferns in the IUCN Red List.
On August 13, 2004, Ken Hill was given early retirement because of his poor health.
Family life
Ken Hill married Leslie Greenwood . The two daughters Zoe and Phoebe emerged from this marriage .
Late years and death
After his retirement, Hill continued his work, namely on the description of the sago palm ferns. He developed The Cycad Pages further with the aim of a monograph on this plant genus. However, he did not live to see the publication of this monograph.
In addition to botany, his private interests included birds, music, films, postage stamps, genealogy, technology, motorcycles and travel. Hill was a gifted gardener and later wanted to retire to his property in Somersby near Gosford . His poor health did not allow this either.
Ken Hill passed away on August 4, 2010 at the age of 62.
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Web links
- Author entry and list of the described plant names for Kenneth D. Hill at the IPNI
- PlantNET (English)
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Hill, Kenneth D. |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Hill, Ken |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Australian botanist |
| DATE OF BIRTH | August 6, 1948 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Armidale , New South Wales, Australia |
| DATE OF DEATH | 4th August 2010 |
| Place of death | Sydney , New South Wales, Australia |