- Humphry Bowen
Humphry John Moule Bowen (
June 22 ,1929 –August 9 ,2001 ) was a Britishbotanist andchemist . [ [http://www.jpbowen.com/publications/hjmb-obituary.html Obituary] , "The Times ", 2001.] [ [http://education.guardian.co.uk/obituary/story/0,12212,750151,00.html Obituary] , "The Guardian ", 2001.] [ [http://www.portal.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2001/09/05/db02.xml Obituary] , "The Telegraph, 2001."]Bowen was born in
Oxford , son of the chemistEdmund Bowen . He attended theDragon School , gaining ascholarship toRugby School and then ademyship toMagdalen College, Oxford . He won the "Gibbs Prize" in 1949 and completed aDPhil inchemistry atOxford University in 1953 before starting his professional career as a chemist. Bowen was also a proficient amateur actor in his early years, appearing with a youngRonnie Barker at Oxford.His first post was with the
Atomic Energy Research Establishment (AERE), working at the Wantage Research Laboratory, then inBerkshire . His early work started an interest inradioisotopes andtrace elements that he maintained throughout his working life. While at AERE, he spent several months in 1956 attending the British nuclear tests atMaralinga inAustralia to study the environmental effects ofradiation .Bowen realized that the
calibration of different instruments intended to measuretrace elements was an important issue that needed addressing. His solution was to produce a good supply of a material which later become known as "Bowen's Kale ". With Peter Cawse, he grew a large amount of the plantkale , then dried and crushed it into a homogeneous and stable substance that he then freely distributed to researchers around the world for years to come. This was probably the first successful example of such a standard.In 1964, he was appointed as a lecturer in the chemistry department at the
University of Reading . Later he was promoted to Reader in Analytical Chemistry in 1974. At Reading, Bowen undertook consultancy for Dunlop, investigating potential uses for their products. When theTorrey Canyon oil disaster occurred in 1967, he realized that it might be possible to use foam booms to block the oil from spreading in theEnglish Channel . His original experiments were conducted in a small bucket in his laboratory. Although not entirely successful in reality at the time due to the rough seas, this lateral thinking combined his interest in chemistry with his love of nature and has since been effectively deployed to protect ports and harbours against encroaching oil slicks. Bowen wrote a number of professional books in the field of chemistry, including two editions of "Trace Elements inBiochemistry " (1966 and 1976).From 1951 onwards, Bowen was a long-serving member of the
Botanical Society of the British Isles (BSBI). He was meetings secretary for a period and the official recorder of plants for the counties ofBerkshire andDorset , producing Floras for both counties. [H. J. M. Bowen, "The Flora of Berkshire", 1968.] [H. J. M. Bowen, " [http://www.naturebureau.co.uk/shop/books/Dorsetflora.html The Flora of Dorset] ", Pisces Publications, 2000. ISBN 1-874357-16-1.] He was also one of the leading contributors of botanical data for the "Flora of Oxfordshire". [John Killick, Roy Perry andStan Woodell , "Flora of Oxfordshire" , Pisces Publications, 1998. ISBN 1-874357-07-2.]See also
* Bowen's son,
Jonathan Bowen , a computer scientist.
*George Claridge Druce , the Victorian botanist who also wrote floras for more that one county.Bibliography
* H. J. M. Bowen, "Trace Elements in Biochemistry".
Academic Press , 1966.
* H. J. M. Bowen, "Properties of Solids and their Structures".McGraw-Hill , 1967.
* H. J. M. Bowen, "Environmental Chemistry of the Elements". Academic Press, 1979. ISBN 0-12-120450-2.References
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