Tansley , Sir , Arthur George , 1871-1955 , Knight , plant ecologist

Tansley , Sir , Arthur George , 1871-1955 , Knight , plant ecologist

Tansley (1871-1955) was educated at Highgate School, University College London, and Trinity College Cambridge (MA). He was Demonstrator and later Assistant Professor of Botany at University College London, 1893-1906; University Lecturer in Botany, Cambridge, 1906-1923; President of the Botanical Section, British Association, 1923; Fellow of Magdalen College and Sherardian Professor of Botany, Oxford, 1927-1937. He was founder, 1902, and editor, for 30 years, of the New Phytologist, and editor, for 21 years, of the Journal of Ecology; President of the British Ecological Society, 1913-1915 and 1938-1940; Chairman of the Nature Conservancy, 1949-1953; and President of the Council for the Promotion of Field Studies from 1947. He was elected Fellow of the Royal Society in 1915; received the Linnean Gold Medal in 1941; Honorary Fellow of Trinity College Cambridge from 1944; and knighted in 1950.

Tansley was secretary to the Scientific Research Association and also a member of the Cambridge Branch of the National Union of Scientific Workers (see AT/1/2/1). Due to Tansley's role as secretary, more administrative material relating to the Scientific Research Association is to be found in this collection than for the National Union of Scientific Workers. Two rival histories of the genesis of both organisations can be found in this collection at AT/2/4/3 and AT/2/6/1/34. The Scientific Research Association was officially founded in February 1918 with the aim of promoting pure scientific research. The National Union of Scientific Workers was founded in October 1918 and negotiations over a possible merger or accommodation between the two organisations are evident from the surviving correspondence in AT/2/6. Whilst a merger between the two organisations was rejected a federation of Associations was considered by the National Union of Scientific Workers (see AT/1/3/2). The 'Federation of Technical and Scientific Associations' at AT/3 is possibly the federation suggested by the National Union of Scientific Workers. It is unclear from the surviving material in this collection how long these organisations existed, although due to insufficient support from the scientific community the Scientific Research Association considered altering the constitution and organisation of the British Association for the Advancement of Science and working through that body rather than forming a separate organisation (see AT/2/3/9 and AT/2/7).