Alfred Gibbs Bourne

Sir Alfred Gibbs Bourne (August 8, 1859, Lowestoft - July 14, 1940, Dartmouth, Devon) K.C.I.E., D.Sc, F.R.S., F.L.S. was a zoologist, botanist and educator.

Son of Rev. Alfred Bourne, secretary of the British Foreign School society, joined the University College School after a liberal home education. Along with his contemporary Sydney J. Hickson, he was fascinated by the lectures of Ray Lankester. He later joined the University College in 1876 and attended the Royal School of Mines. In 1886 he went to Madras to join the Presidency College as Professor of Biology. He held this position until 1898 although he also held the positions of Registrar and Superintendent of the Government Museum. In 1903 he was made Director of Public Instruction and he worked on changes in the secondary education system. He introduced the Secondary School Leaving Certificate System. After his retirement, he took charge as director of the Indian Institute of Science. He held this position from 1915 to 1921.

Lady Bourne was an acclaimed botanical artist and she teamed up with other artists at Kodaikanal to produce illustrations of the local flora. These illustration were used in "The Flora of the Nilgiri and Pulney Hill-tops" by Philip Furley Fyson.

References

* J. Stanley Gardiner. (1941) Alfred Gibbs Bourne. 1859-1940 Obituary Notices of Fellows of the Royal Society, Vol. 3, No. 10 (Dec., 1941), pp. 545-549