Book ID: CBB001321143

The Reindeer Botanist: Alf Erling Porsild, 1901--1977 (2012)

unapi

Dathan, Patricia Wendy (Author)


University of Calgary Press


Publication Date: 2012
Physical Details: xxii + 726 pp.; maps; bibl.; index
Language: English

One of Canada's most remarkable botanists, Alf Erling Porsild (1901-1977) grew up on the Arctic Station in West Greenland, where he later served as Vice/Acting Canadian Consul (1940-43). For nearly twenty years, he studied reindeer activities in Alaska and the Northwest Territories as part of a Canadian project designed to encourage grazing animal husbandry among aboriginal peoples. As Curator of Botany at the National Museum of Canada, he collected thousands of specimens, greatly enlarging the National Herbarium and making it a superb research centre. Porsild's meticulous work and observations have particular relevance today with the growing concern over global warming in the Arctic. This long-awaited biography traces the challenging and adventurous career of an unusual, little-known scientist who battled rivalry, bureaucracy, personal disappointment, and private tragedy. In the end, he earned universal respect for his prodigious publications and intimate knowledge of the people, plants, and land around Canada's Arctic Circle. His story gives the first full account of the Canadian Reindeer Project and Canada's Consulate in wartime Greenland and describes the exploration and mapping of the Canadian flora and growth of the National Herbarium from about 1920 to Porsild's retirement in 1967

...More
Reviewed By

Review Flannery, Maura C. (2014) Review of "The Reindeer Botanist: Alf Erling Porsild, 1901--1977". Archives of Natural History (p. 178). unapi

Review Smocovitis, Vassiliki Betty (2014) Review of "The Reindeer Botanist: Alf Erling Porsild, 1901--1977". Isis: International Review Devoted to the History of Science and Its Cultural Influences (pp. 246-247). unapi

Citation URI
https://data.isiscb.org/isis/citation/CBB001321143/

Similar Citations

Chapter Bocking, Stephen; (2013)
Situated yet Mobile: Examining the Environmental History of Arctic Ecological Science (/isis/citation/CBB001420347/)

Article Vasilevich, Vladislav I.; (2011)
At the Centennial of Vera Danilovna Aleksandrova's Birth (1910--1989) (/isis/citation/CBB001220395/)

Article Lucas, A. M.; Lucas, P. J.; (2014)
Natural History “Collectors”: Exploring the Ambiguities (/isis/citation/CBB001321122/)

Thesis Emelin Elizabeth Miller; (2019)
Empire of Ice: Arctic Natural History and British Visions of the North, 1500-1800 (/isis/citation/CBB984131524/)

Article Baytop, Asuman; (2012)
Anadolu'nun dar bir yöresinden örnek toplam bitki toplay c lar (/isis/citation/CBB001320512/)

Book Canfield, Michael R.; (2011)
Field Notes on Science and Nature (/isis/citation/CBB001253016/)

Book Lawson, Russell M.; (2012)
Frontier Naturalist: Jean Louis Berlandier and the Exploration of Northern Mexico and Texas (/isis/citation/CBB001202063/)

Article Nelson Sanjad; Ermelinda Pataca; Rafael Rogério Nascimento dos Santos; (2021)
Knowledge and Circulation of Plants: Unveiling the Participation of Amazonian Indigenous Peoples in the Construction of Eighteenth and Nineteenth Century Botany (/isis/citation/CBB714153328/)

Book Brenda Parlee; Ken J. Caine; (2018)
When the caribou do not come : indigenous knowledge and adaptive management in the western Arctic (/isis/citation/CBB391645362/)

Book Carette, Nicole; Laverdière, Camille; (1999)
Jacques Rousseau, 1905--1970: curriculum, anthologie, témoignages, bibliographie (/isis/citation/CBB000600010/)

Article Guly, Henry; (2012)
Dr. Reginald Koettlitz (1860--1916): Arctic and Antarctic Explorer (/isis/citation/CBB001200783/)

Chapter Lewander, Lisbeth; (2013)
The Nordic Arctic Periphery: Fragments from Field Work (/isis/citation/CBB001421160/)

Article John Leslie Dowe; Sara Maroske; (2020)
John Dallachy (1804–71): From Gardener to Botanical Collector (/isis/citation/CBB914842981/)

Book M. Helen Henderson; William G. Henderson; (2018)
A Greater Prize Than Gold: Augustus Oldfield, 19th Century Botanical Collector and Ethnographer in Australia (/isis/citation/CBB622813113/)

Authors & Contributors
Ken J. Caine
Luedee, Jonathan
Bockstoce, John R.
Henderson, M. Helen
Dowe, John Leslie
Rafael Rogério Nascimento dos Santos
Concepts
Botany
Biological specimens
Field work
Indigenous peoples; indigeneity
Biographies
Collectors and collecting
Time Periods
19th century
20th century
20th century, early
18th century
21st century
20th century, late
Places
Arctic regions
Canada
Russia
Australia
Anatolia (Turkey)
England
Institutions
Rossiiskaia Akademiia Nauk
Academia Sinica
Comments

Be the first to comment!

{{ comment.created_by.username }} on {{ comment.created_on | date:'medium' }}

Log in or register to comment