David P. Penhallow

David Pearce Penhallow
Born	May 25, 1854(1854-05-25) Kittery Point, Maine (USA)
Died	October 20, 1910(1910-10-20) (aged 56) S.S. Lake Manitoba North Atlantic
Nationality	American/Canadian
Fields	Botany (Paleobotany)
Institutions	McGill University, Montreal Canada
Alma mater	Massachusetts Agricultural College
Known for	Botany and Paleobotany

David Pearce Penhallow (25 May 1854 – 20 October 1910) was a Canadian-American^[1] botanist, paleobotanist and educator.^[2]

Born in Kittery Point, Maine, Penhallow graduated from Massachusetts Agricultural College in 1873 (now the University of Massachusetts Amherst). When his former professor, William S. Clark was asked by the Japanese government to assist in the founding of Sapporo Agricultural College (now Hokkaido University), Penhallow accompanied Clark and another MAC graduate, William Wheeler, to teach botany and chemistry. When Clark departed the Sapporo in 1877, Penhallow served as acting President from 1879 to 1880. During his stay in Japan, Penhallow travelled across the archipelago and among other accomplishments became the first westerner to stay with the Ainu peoples.^[3]

Upon returning to North America 1880, Penhallow became an assistant to noted Harvard University botanist Asa Gray and assisted with Grays research into the distribution of northern hemisphere plants. Penhallow left Harvard in 1882 to become a botanist and chemist at the Houghton Farm Experiment Station which was located in Houghton, New York, however the station closed only one year later. While Penhallow was working at Houghton Farm, Gray was contacted by Sr John Dawson of McGill University who was looking for a suitable person to fill the vacancy left at McGill with the death of botanist James Barnston.^[3] Penhallow accepted and became a lecturer at McGill and in 1883 became the first botanist appointed to the Macdonald Chair of Botany. During this time Penhallow delved into the newly developing science of paleobotany with the encouragement of Dawson. He was noted for his early work on Devonian fossils of the Gaspé peninsula and the Tertiary fossils of the British Columbia coal fields.^[3] He conducted detailed work on extinct taxa such as Prototaxites^[3] and Azolla primaeva.^[4]

Penhallow continued with his education and in 1888 he earned his Bsc from Boston University. Eight years later in 1896 he was awarded both a bsc and an MSc from McGill 1896, and finally a DSc in 1904. After allegedly suffering from a mental breakdown in 1909, Penhallow died on the SS Lake Manitoba during a voyage from Montreal to Liverpool, England.^[3]

The standard author abbreviation Penh. is used to indicate this individual as the author when citing a botanical name.^[5]

References

1. ^ Jeffrey, E.C. (1911). "David Pearce Penhallow". Botanical Gazette 51 (2): 142–144. JSTOR 2466545. 
2. ^ McGill Herbarium David Penhallow page
3. ^ ^{a b c d e} Dictionary of Canadian biography David Penhallow entry
4. ^ Arnold, C.A. (1955). "A Tertiary Azolla from British Columbia". Contributions from the Museum of. Paleontology, University of Michigan 12 (4): 37–45. http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/48289/2/ID129.pdf. 
5. ^ "Author Query". International Plant Names Index. http://www.ipni.org/ipni/authorsearchpage.do. 

Persondata
Name	Penhallow, David Pearce
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	25 May 1854
Place of birth	Kittery Point, Maine (USA)
Date of death	20 October 1910
Place of death	S.S. Lake Manitoba North Atlantic