Robert Folger Thorne
Encyclopedia
Dr. Robert F. Thorne is an American botanist and currently Taxonomist and Curator Emeritus at Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden
and Professor Emeritus at Claremont Graduate University
in Claremont, California
. His research has contributed to the understanding of the evolution of flowering plant
s.
. He was educated through high school in Gulfport
and St. Petersburg, Florida
. He graduated summa cum laude in 1941 with a major in botany
from Dartmouth College
and earned his M.S. degree in Economic Botany in 1942 at Cornell University
. He spend about three years serving in the armed forces during World War II
, first at Hondo
Navigation School, Texas
, graduating as a 2nd Lieutenant in Aerial Navigation in 1943. Then, after 7 months in Italy
in 1944 as a B-24 bomber navigator with 40 missions over eastern and southern Europe, he served as an instructor and as an examinations officer at Ellington Field
, Texas, from 1944 – 1945.
After serving in the armed forces, he earned his Ph.D. in Economic Botany at Cornell University in 1949, studying under professors Walter Muenscher and Arthur Eames. While at Cornell, he met and married Mae Zukel in 1947.
, Iowa City, Iowa
, from 1949 – 1953, Associate Professor from 1954 – 1960, and Professor from 1961 – 1962. He was a Visiting Professor at the University of Minnesota
, Lake Itasca
Biological Station in the summer of 1962 before moving to California
, where he became Taxonomist and Curator
for Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden
and Professor for Claremont Graduate School (now Claremont Graduate University
) in Claremont, California
. He became Taxonomist and Curator Emeritus as well as Professor Emeritus at Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden and Claremont Graduate School in 1987. He also became Curator Emeritus of the Pomona College
Herbarium in Claremont, California from 1990 to the present.
Other appointments include: Field Botanist, U.S. Public Health Service, Georgia, Summer 1946. Botany Assistant, 1945–1947; Instructor in Botany, 1948-1949; Cornell University, Ithaca, New York. Visiting Associate Professor, University of Virginia
, Mountain Lake Biological Station, Summer l956.
Thorne became a Fulbright Research Scholar
in 1959 and spent his time as a National Science Foundation
Senior Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Queensland
, Brisbane
, Australia
and studying the plant communities of New Caledonia
, Australia
, and New Guinea
. When he moved to California in 1962, he quickly learned the flora of California, which led him to write the essay entitled “The vascular plant communities of California” in 1976. According to Systematic Botany, Thorne has advocated for "the conservation of California’s endangered natural environments; his advocacy and leadership helped result in the conservation of Santa Catalina Island
’s biota.”
Thorne gained an international reputation through “his contributions to our understanding of the evolution of flowering plants... and that has culminated recently in two... publications, one outlining his classifications of monocots (Thorne 2000) and the other on the dicotyledon
s (Thorne 2001).” Furthermore, he has been a guide and teacher for the many staff, students, researchers, and visitors of Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden through the years. He is currently working on many projects, one of which is completing “floristic works on both the San Gabriel
and San Bernardino
mountains” as well as “his upcoming flora of Sierra San Pedro Martir
and... his checklist for the entire Baja peninsula.” He also created a system of plant taxonomy known as the Thorne system.
Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden
The Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden is a botanical garden in Claremont, California, in the United States, just south of the San Gabriel foothills. The garden, at , is a non-profit organization dedicated to California native plants...
and Professor Emeritus at Claremont Graduate University
Claremont Graduate University
Claremont Graduate University is a private, all-graduate research university located in Claremont, California, a city east of downtown Los Angeles...
in Claremont, California
Claremont, California
Claremont is a small affluent college town in eastern Los Angeles County, California, United States, about east of downtown Los Angeles at the base of the San Gabriel Mountains. The population as of the 2010 census is 34,926. Claremont is known for its seven higher-education institutions, its...
. His research has contributed to the understanding of the evolution of flowering plant
Flowering plant
The flowering plants , also known as Angiospermae or Magnoliophyta, are the most diverse group of land plants. Angiosperms are seed-producing plants like the gymnosperms and can be distinguished from the gymnosperms by a series of synapomorphies...
s.
Biography
Thorne was born on July 13, 1920 at Spring Lake, New JerseySpring Lake, New Jersey
Spring Lake is a borough in Monmouth County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the borough population was 2,993....
. He was educated through high school in Gulfport
Gulfport, Florida
Gulfport is a city in Pinellas County, Florida and a suburb of St. Petersburg. The population of Gulfport was 12,527 at the 2000 census. As of 2004, the population estimated by the U.S. Census Bureau was 12,740. Gulfport is part of the Tampa-St...
and St. Petersburg, Florida
St. Petersburg, Florida
St. Petersburg is a city in Pinellas County, Florida, United States. It is known as a vacation destination for both American and foreign tourists. As of 2008, the population estimate by the U.S. Census Bureau is 245,314, making St...
. He graduated summa cum laude in 1941 with a major in botany
Botany
Botany, plant science, or plant biology is a branch of biology that involves the scientific study of plant life. Traditionally, botany also included the study of fungi, algae and viruses...
from Dartmouth College
Dartmouth College
Dartmouth College is a private, Ivy League university in Hanover, New Hampshire, United States. The institution comprises a liberal arts college, Dartmouth Medical School, Thayer School of Engineering, and the Tuck School of Business, as well as 19 graduate programs in the arts and sciences...
and earned his M.S. degree in Economic Botany in 1942 at Cornell University
Cornell University
Cornell University is an Ivy League university located in Ithaca, New York, United States. It is a private land-grant university, receiving annual funding from the State of New York for certain educational missions...
. He spend about three years serving in the armed forces during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, first at Hondo
Hondo, Texas
Hondo is a city in and the county seat of Medina County, Texas, United States. According to the 2000 Census, the population was 7,897...
Navigation School, Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
, graduating as a 2nd Lieutenant in Aerial Navigation in 1943. Then, after 7 months in Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
in 1944 as a B-24 bomber navigator with 40 missions over eastern and southern Europe, he served as an instructor and as an examinations officer at Ellington Field
Ellington Field
Ellington International Airport is a joint civil-military airport located in the U.S. state of Texas within the city of Houston— southeast of Downtown. Established by the Army Air Service on 21 May 1917, Ellington Field was one of the initial World War I Army Air Service installations when...
, Texas, from 1944 – 1945.
After serving in the armed forces, he earned his Ph.D. in Economic Botany at Cornell University in 1949, studying under professors Walter Muenscher and Arthur Eames. While at Cornell, he met and married Mae Zukel in 1947.
Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden
Dr. Thorne was the Assistant Professor of Botany at the University of IowaUniversity of Iowa
The University of Iowa is a public state-supported research university located in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. It is the oldest public university in the state. The university is organized into eleven colleges granting undergraduate, graduate, and professional degrees...
, Iowa City, Iowa
Iowa City, Iowa
Iowa City is a city in Johnson County, State of Iowa. As of the 2010 Census, the city had a total population of about 67,862, making it the sixth-largest city in the state. Iowa City is the county seat of Johnson County and home to the University of Iowa...
, from 1949 – 1953, Associate Professor from 1954 – 1960, and Professor from 1961 – 1962. He was a Visiting Professor at the University of Minnesota
University of Minnesota
The University of Minnesota, Twin Cities is a public research university located in Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota, United States. It is the oldest and largest part of the University of Minnesota system and has the fourth-largest main campus student body in the United States, with 52,557...
, Lake Itasca
Lake Itasca
Lake Itasca is a small glacial lake, approximately in area, in the Headwaters area of north central Minnesota. The lake is located in southeastern Clearwater County within Itasca State Park and it has an average depth of 20–35 feet , and is 1,475 ft above sea level.The Ojibwe name for...
Biological Station in the summer of 1962 before moving to California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
, where he became Taxonomist and Curator
Curator
A curator is a manager or overseer. Traditionally, a curator or keeper of a cultural heritage institution is a content specialist responsible for an institution's collections and involved with the interpretation of heritage material...
for Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden
Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden
The Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden is a botanical garden in Claremont, California, in the United States, just south of the San Gabriel foothills. The garden, at , is a non-profit organization dedicated to California native plants...
and Professor for Claremont Graduate School (now Claremont Graduate University
Claremont Graduate University
Claremont Graduate University is a private, all-graduate research university located in Claremont, California, a city east of downtown Los Angeles...
) in Claremont, California
Claremont, California
Claremont is a small affluent college town in eastern Los Angeles County, California, United States, about east of downtown Los Angeles at the base of the San Gabriel Mountains. The population as of the 2010 census is 34,926. Claremont is known for its seven higher-education institutions, its...
. He became Taxonomist and Curator Emeritus as well as Professor Emeritus at Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden and Claremont Graduate School in 1987. He also became Curator Emeritus of the Pomona College
Pomona College
Pomona College is a private, residential, liberal arts college in Claremont, California. Founded in 1887 in Pomona, California by a group of Congregationalists, the college moved to Claremont in 1889 to the site of a hotel, retaining its name. The school enrolls 1,548 students.The founding member...
Herbarium in Claremont, California from 1990 to the present.
Other appointments include: Field Botanist, U.S. Public Health Service, Georgia, Summer 1946. Botany Assistant, 1945–1947; Instructor in Botany, 1948-1949; Cornell University, Ithaca, New York. Visiting Associate Professor, University of Virginia
University of Virginia
The University of Virginia is a public research university located in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States, founded by Thomas Jefferson...
, Mountain Lake Biological Station, Summer l956.
Thorne became a Fulbright Research Scholar
Fulbright Program
The Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright-Hays Program, is a program of competitive, merit-based grants for international educational exchange for students, scholars, teachers, professionals, scientists and artists, founded by United States Senator J. William Fulbright in 1946. Under the...
in 1959 and spent his time as a National Science Foundation
National Science Foundation
The National Science Foundation is a United States government agency that supports fundamental research and education in all the non-medical fields of science and engineering. Its medical counterpart is the National Institutes of Health...
Senior Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Queensland
University of Queensland
The University of Queensland, also known as UQ, is a public university located in state of Queensland, Australia. Founded in 1909, it is the oldest and largest university in Queensland and the fifth oldest in the nation...
, Brisbane
Brisbane
Brisbane is the capital and most populous city in the Australian state of Queensland and the third most populous city in Australia. Brisbane's metropolitan area has a population of over 2 million, and the South East Queensland urban conurbation, centred around Brisbane, encompasses a population of...
, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
and studying the plant communities of New Caledonia
New Caledonia
New Caledonia is a special collectivity of France located in the southwest Pacific Ocean, east of Australia and about from Metropolitan France. The archipelago, part of the Melanesia subregion, includes the main island of Grande Terre, the Loyalty Islands, the Belep archipelago, the Isle of...
, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
, and New Guinea
New Guinea
New Guinea is the world's second largest island, after Greenland, covering a land area of 786,000 km2. Located in the southwest Pacific Ocean, it lies geographically to the east of the Malay Archipelago, with which it is sometimes included as part of a greater Indo-Australian Archipelago...
. When he moved to California in 1962, he quickly learned the flora of California, which led him to write the essay entitled “The vascular plant communities of California” in 1976. According to Systematic Botany, Thorne has advocated for "the conservation of California’s endangered natural environments; his advocacy and leadership helped result in the conservation of Santa Catalina Island
Santa Catalina Island, California
Santa Catalina Island, often called Catalina Island, or just Catalina, is a rocky island off the coast of the U.S. state of California. The island is long and across at its greatest width. The island is located about south-southwest of Los Angeles, California. The highest point on the island is...
’s biota.”
Thorne gained an international reputation through “his contributions to our understanding of the evolution of flowering plants... and that has culminated recently in two... publications, one outlining his classifications of monocots (Thorne 2000) and the other on the dicotyledon
Dicotyledon
The dicotyledons, also known as dicots, are a group of flowering plants whose seed typically has two embryonic leaves or cotyledons. There are around 199,350 species within this group...
s (Thorne 2001).” Furthermore, he has been a guide and teacher for the many staff, students, researchers, and visitors of Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden through the years. He is currently working on many projects, one of which is completing “floristic works on both the San Gabriel
San Gabriel Mountains
The San Gabriel Mountains Range is located in northern Los Angeles County and western San Bernardino County, California, United States. The mountain range lies between the Los Angeles Basin and the Mojave Desert, with Interstate 5 to the west and Interstate 15 to the east...
and San Bernardino
San Bernardino Mountains
The San Bernardino Mountains are a short transverse mountain range north and east of San Bernardino in Southern California in the United States. The mountains run for approximately 60 miles east-west on the southern edge of the Mojave Desert in southwestern San Bernardino County, north of the...
mountains” as well as “his upcoming flora of Sierra San Pedro Martir
Sierra San Pedro Mártir
Sierra de San Pedro Mártir is a mountain range that is one of the Peninsular Ranges of the Baja California peninsula, Mexico. At , the highest peak is the Picacho del Diablo, also known as Cerro de la Encantada or Picacho la Providencia...
and... his checklist for the entire Baja peninsula.” He also created a system of plant taxonomy known as the Thorne system.
Fellowships and awards
- Cramer Fellow (Dartmouth CollegeDartmouth CollegeDartmouth College is a private, Ivy League university in Hanover, New Hampshire, United States. The institution comprises a liberal arts college, Dartmouth Medical School, Thayer School of Engineering, and the Tuck School of Business, as well as 19 graduate programs in the arts and sciences...
to attend Cornell UniversityCornell UniversityCornell University is an Ivy League university located in Ithaca, New York, United States. It is a private land-grant university, receiving annual funding from the State of New York for certain educational missions...
, 1941; declined a second Cramer Fellowship in order to enter Army Air ForcesUnited States Army Air ForcesThe United States Army Air Forces was the military aviation arm of the United States of America during and immediately after World War II, and the direct predecessor of the United States Air Force....
). - Research Associate Professor, University of IowaUniversity of IowaThe University of Iowa is a public state-supported research university located in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. It is the oldest public university in the state. The university is organized into eleven colleges granting undergraduate, graduate, and professional degrees...
, 1957. - Fulbright Research Scholar, University of QueenslandUniversity of QueenslandThe University of Queensland, also known as UQ, is a public university located in state of Queensland, Australia. Founded in 1909, it is the oldest and largest university in Queensland and the fifth oldest in the nation...
, Brisbane, Australia, 1959–1960 (renewed once). - National Science Foundation Senior Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia; Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, and British Museum (Natural History), London, England, 1960.
- Elected Foreign Member, Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and LettersRoyal Danish Academy of Sciences and LettersRoyal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters is a Danish non-governmental science Academy, founded 13 November 1742 by permission of the King Christian VI, as a historical Collegium Antiquitatum...
, 1986–present. - Merit Award, American Botanical Society, 1996.
- Madroño, Volume 45, 1999. Dedicated to Robert F. Thorne.
Special recognition
- 1996. Universidad Autónoma de Baja California, Ensenada. For botanical contributions in Baja California
- 1998. Santa Catalina Island Conservancy. For botanical contributions to Santa Catalina IslandSanta Catalina Island, CaliforniaSanta Catalina Island, often called Catalina Island, or just Catalina, is a rocky island off the coast of the U.S. state of California. The island is long and across at its greatest width. The island is located about south-southwest of Los Angeles, California. The highest point on the island is...
- 1999. Southern California Botanists. For botanical contributions in California
- 1999. Southern California Botanists. Lifetime Achievement Award
- 2000. University Club of Claremont, California
- 2001. American Society of Plant TaxonomistsAmerican Society of Plant TaxonomistsThe American Society of Plant Taxonomists is a botanical organization formed in 1935 to "foster, encourage, and promote education and research in the field of plant taxonomy, to include those areas and fields of study that contribute to and bear upon taxonomy and herbaria", according to its bylaws...
. Asa Gray Award for outstanding contributions in systematic botany - 2003. Third International Conference of the Comparative Biology of Monocotyledons. Lifetime Achievement Award
- 2005. Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden. Dedication honoring lifetime achievements as systematist and conservationist
- 2006. Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden. California Glory Award acknowledging outstanding contributions toward understanding and preservation of California’s native flora
- 2006. Botanical Society of America. Centennial Award for exemplary services to the plant sciences
Recent publications
- 2010. Thorne, R. F, R. V. Moran and R. A. Minnich. 2010. Vascular plants of the high Sierra San Pedro Mártir, Baja California, Mexico: an annotated checklist. Aliso (28): 1–57.
- In press. Krantz, T. P. and R. F. Thorne. An annotated flora of the vascular plants of the San Bernardino Mountains, San Bernardino Co., CA. Aliso.
- 2007. Thorne, R. F. and J. L. Reveal. An updated classification of the Class Magnoliopsida (“Angiospermae”). Botanical Review 73(2): 67–182.
- 2007. Thorne, R. F. et al. Transmontane coniferous vegetation, pp. 575–586. In M. G. Barbour. T. Keeler.-Wolf and A. A. Schoenherr [eds.], Terrestrial Vegetation of California, 3rd ed., University of California Press, Berkeley, CA.
- 2006. Thorne, R. F. A bibliography of floristics in southern California: addendum number 2A. Crossosoma 31(2), Fall–Winter 2005 (issued 2006).
- 2002. Thorne, R. F. How many species of seed plants are there? Taxon 51: 511–512.
- 2001. Thorne, R. F. The classification and geography of the flowering plants: dicotyledons of the class Angiospermae (subclasses Magnoliidae, Ranunculidae, Caryophyllidae, Dilleniidae, Rosidae, Asteridae, and Lamiidae). Botanical Revue 66(4): 44l–647.
- 2000. Thorne, R. F. The classification and geography of the monocotyledon subclasses Alismatidae, Liliidae and Commelinidae, pp. 75–124. In B. Nordenstam, G. E-Ghazaly, and M. Kassas [eds.], Plant Systematics for the 21st Century. Portland Press, London, UK.
- 1999. Thorne, R. F. Eastern Asia as a living museum for archaic angiosperms and other seed plants. Taiwania 44(4): 413–422.
- 1995. Thorne, R. F. Vascular plants of Fort DeSoto Park, Pinellas County, Florida. Selbyana 16(1): 100–109.
- 1986. Thorne, R. F. Antarctic elements in Australasian rainforests. Telopea 2(6): 611–617.
Professional service
Active via elective and appointed offices in service to several professional societies:- President, American Society of Plant TaxonomistsAmerican Society of Plant TaxonomistsThe American Society of Plant Taxonomists is a botanical organization formed in 1935 to "foster, encourage, and promote education and research in the field of plant taxonomy, to include those areas and fields of study that contribute to and bear upon taxonomy and herbaria", according to its bylaws...
, 1968. - Secretary, Botanical Society of AmericaBotanical Society of AmericaThe Botanical Society of America represents professional and amateur botanists, researchers, educators and students in over 80 countries of the world...
, ca. 1958. - President, Southern California Botanists, ca. 1966.
- Second Vice-President, California Botanical Society, ca. 1966.
- National Treasurer, Gamma AlphaGamma AlphaThe Gamma Alpha Graduate Scientific Society is a non-profit fraternal organization in the USA which fosters interdisciplinary dialogue among graduate students through its local chapters. The Society’s chapters have often been headquartered in chapter houses, akin to residential cooperatives,...
scientific fraternity, 1954–1957. - Chairman, Advisory Council of Flora North America Project, which found the project feasible.
- On the editorial boards of several national botanical journals; international journal Taiwania.
- Reviewer of manuscripts for various botanical journals and university presses.