E. J. H. Corner

Botanist, Deceased Person

1906 – 1996

15

Who was E. J. H. Corner?

Edred John Henry Corner FRS was a botanist who occupied the posts of assistant director at the Singapore Botanic Gardens and Professor of Tropical Botany at the University of Cambridge. Corner was a Fellow of Sidney Sussex College from 1959.

His studies of seed morphology led him to formulate the Durian Theory of the origin of flowering plants. He was also a leading expert on the genus Ficus and the palm family, as well as a distinguished mycologist, having published Boletus in Malaysia in 1972.

Among his many academic prizes were the Darwin Medal, the Linnaean Gold Medal, and the Japanese International Prize for Biology.

He was a controversial figure, viewed by some as a collaborator with the Japanese during the World War II occupation of Singapore. In fact he was only offered the chance to continue his work in the Singapore Botanic Garden at the instigation of the ousted British governor, Sir Shenton Thomas, and he was treated by the Japanese as an enemy alien, being required to wear a distinguishing red star on his clothing. His account of this time is contained in The Marquis - A Tale Of The Syonan-to. He also wrote a Biographical Memoir of the Emperor Hirohito for the Royal Society.

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Born
Jan 12, 1906
Profession
Education
  • Rugby School
Died
Sep 14, 1996

Submitted
on July 23, 2013

Citation

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