William Gilbert Chaloner
William Gilbert Chaloner (called: Bill Chaloner ; born November 22, 1928 in Chelsea (London) ; † October 13, 2016 ) was a British paleobotanist. Its official botanical author's abbreviation is " Chaloner ".
Chaloner studied botany, geology and chemistry at the University of Reading from 1947 with a bachelor's degree in 1950 and his doctorate in 1953 with Tom Harris on in situ spores in fossils of barnacle plants of the Carboniferous . As a post-doctoral student, he spent a year at the University of Michigan with Chester Arnold and, after two years of military service as an artillery lieutenant, went to the Faculty of Botany at University College London in 1956 . In 1958 he became a lecturer there and in 1963 a reader in paleobotany. In 1972 he became Professor of Botany at Birkbeck College, University of London and in 1979 Hildred Carlyle Professor of Botany at Bedford College, University of London, which merged with Royal Holloway in 1985. There he headed the School of Life Science. From 1987 to 1991 he was in the Senate of the University of London. Among other things, he was visiting professor in Nigeria ( Nsukka , 1965/66), at the Pennsylvania State University (1961) and at the University of Massachusetts (1981, 1988 to 1991).
He was one of the leading paleobotanists in Great Britain, where he used electron microscopy early on to study plant fossils and found clues about the composition of the atmosphere and climatic conditions of past eras from plant fossils (he studied fossil tree rings, among other things). He was an expert in particular for club moss fossils and particularly studied the paleoecology of fossil spores.
In 2005 he received the Lapworth Medal of the Palaeontological Association , of which he was an honorary member and of which he was president from 1976 to 1978. He was a Fellow of the Royal Society (1976). He received the Linnean Medal of the Linnean Society of London in 1991 , of which he was president from 1985 to 1988. He was an external member of the Académie des sciences , the Botanical Society of America and the Belgian Geological Society. In 1984 he was awarded the American Association of Stratigraphic Palynologists Medal. 1985/86 he was Vice President of the Geological Society of London. 1981 to 1987 he was President of the International Organization of Palaeobotany. From 1983 until his death he was on the board of directors of the Royal Botanical Gardens in Kew.
Several fossil plants are named after him, including Chaloneriaceae, a club moss family of the Carboniferous.
Chaloner was married. He had two daughters and a son.
Web links
- Author entry and list of the described plant names for William Gilbert Chaloner at the IPNI
- Biography at Royal Holloway
Individual evidence
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Chaloner, William Gilbert |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Chaloner, Bill |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | British paleobotanist |
| DATE OF BIRTH | November 22, 1928 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Chelsea (London) |
| DATE OF DEATH | October 13, 2016 |