Person
Curtis, Winifred (1905 - 2005)
AM
- Born
- 15 June 1905
London, England - Died
- 14 October 2005
Hobart, Tasmania, Australia - Occupation
- Author, Botanist, Educator and Plant taxonomist
Summary
Winifred Curtis was an influential botanist, educator and author. She took up a position at the University of Tasmania in 1940 and subsequently was involved in establishing the Department of Botany (1945). She lectured in Botany there until her retirement in 1966. Her frustration with the directive to instruct Australian students using British educational texts led her to write The students' flora of Tasmania (1956 - 1994). (Volume 1 was revised with Dennis Morris in 1975.) Her other major monograph was The endemic flora of Tasmania, a collaboration with botanical artist Margaret Stones, published between 1967 and 1978. Curtis also conducted significant research in plant embryology and cytology. Several plants have been named in her honour, including the genus Winifredia (Restionaceae) which is endemic to Tasmania.
Details
Chronology
- 1927
- Education - Bachelor of Science (BSc), University College in London
- 1931 - 1932
- Career position - Biology Teacher at Levenshulme High School in Manchester
- 1933 - 1939
- Career position - Biology Teacher at South Hampstead High School
- 1939
- Life event - Settled in Australia
- 1939
- Education - Master of Science (MSc), University College, London
- 1943 - 1945
- Career position - Assistant Lecturer in Botany, University of Tasmania
- 1945 - 1951
- Career position - Lecturer in Botany, University of Tasmania
- 1950
- Education - Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), University College, London
- 1951 - 1956
- Career position - Senior Lecturer in Botany, University of Tasmania
- 1956 - 1966
- Career position - Reader in Botany, University of Tasmania
- 1966
- Award - Clive Lord memorial Medal, Royal Society of Tasmania
- 1966
- Life event - Retired
- 1968
- Education - Honorary Doctor of Science (DSc), University College, London
- 1976
- Award - Recipient of the Australian Natural History Medallion
- 1977
- Award - Member of the Order of Australia (AM)
- 1987
- Award - Honorary Doctor of Science (DSc), University of Tasmania
- 1988
- Award - Recipient of the Australian Plants Award
- 1994
- Award - Mueller Medal, Australian and New Zealand Association for the Advancement of Science
- 1997
- Award - Named Hobart Citizen of the Year
Related entries
Colleague
Published resources
Encyclopedia of Australian Science and Innovation Exhibitions
- McCarthy, Gavan; Morgan, Helen; Smith, Ailie; van den Bosch, Alan, Where are the Women in Australian Science?, Exhibition of the Encyclopedia of Australian Science and Innovation, First published 2003 with lists updated regulary edn, Australian Science and Technology Heritage Centre, Melbourne, Victoria, 2003, https://eoas.info/exhibitions/wisa/wisa.html. Details
Articles
- Rossister, Heather, 'Winifred Curtis AM Dsc: a women of our time', WISENET Journal, 42 (November) (1996), http://www.wisenet-australia.org/ISSUE42/curtis.htm. Details
Books
- Curtis, Winifred M.; and Morris Dennis I., The student's flora of Tasmania, 4 vols (Hobart: Government Printer, 1956-1994). Details
- Curtis, Winifred; illustrations by Stones, Margaret, The endemic flora of Tasmania, 6 vols (London: Ariel Press, 1967-1978). Details
Book Sections
- Curtis, Winifred M., 'Hooker, Sir Joseph Dalton (1817-1911), botanist and explorer' in Australian dictionary of biography, volume 4: 1851 - 1890 D-J, Douglas Pike, ed. (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 1972), pp. 416-417. http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A040469b.htm. Details
- Kantvilas, Gintaras, 'Winifred Mary Curtis: a biographical sketch' in Aspects of Tasmanian botany : a tribute to Winifred Curtis, Banks, M. R., ed. (Hobart: Royal Society of Tasmania, 1991), pp. 1-6. Details
Edited Books
- Banks, M. R. [and others] ed., Aspects of Tasmanian botany : a tribute to Winifred Curtis (Hobart: Royal Society of Tasmania, 1991), 247 pp. Details
Resources
- Wikidata, http://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q452813. Details
- VIAF - Virtual International Authority File, OCLC, https://viaf.org/viaf/18025267. Details
- 'Curtis, Winifred M (1905-)', Trove, National Library of Australia, 2009, https://nla.gov.au/nla.party-595753. Details
See also
- Hooker, Claire, Irresistible Forces: Australian Women in Science (Carlton: Melbourne University Press, 2004), 215 pp. Details
Ken McInnes
Created: 25 May 2001, Last modified: 9 August 2022