Dr John Frederick Vicars Phillips FRSE FRSS FLS | |
|---|---|
| Born | (1899-03-15)15 March 1899 |
| Died | 17 January 1987(1987-01-17) (aged 87) Hekpoort,South Africa |
| Other names | John Frederick Vickers Phillips |
| Education | University of Edinburgh |
| Known for | Fire ecology |
| Spouse | Jeanie Dalgleish Turnbull |
| Children | Jean Dorothy Marjory Mary John Saunders Turnbull Frederick Jan Smuts |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Forestry |
DrJohn Frederick Vicars (sometimes Vickers) PhillipsFRSE FRSS FLS (15 March 1899 – 17 January 1987) was a 20th-century South African botanist. He was an advocate offire ecology theories.
He was born inGrahamstown in South Africa on 15 March 1899, the only son of Emily Dorothy Lovemore (born 1858) and her husband, Prof John Robert Centilivres Phillips (1850–1940).[1][2]
He was educated atDale College inKing William's Town. He served an apprenticeship in the South African Forestry Department and then won a bursary to study at theUniversity of Edinburgh inScotland. There he gained a degree in forestry. He returned to South Africa as Forestry Officer in Deepwalls inKnysna undertaking ecological research on the indigenous forests. His work led him into work withJan Smuts andPole Evans.[3]
In 1927 he became Deputy Director of theTsetse fly Research Centre inTanganyika.
In 1929 he was elected aFellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. His proposers wereSir William Wright Smith,William Edgar Evans,Robert James Douglas Graham andJames Ritchie.[4]
In 1931 he was appointed Professor of Botany at theUniversity of the Witwatersrand. There he created their first School of Ecology and established the Frankenwald Research station. He introduced courses onsoil conservation in 1946. He left the university in 1948.[5]
In the 1950s he began the Faculty of Agriculture at theUniversity of Ghana. In 1960 he moved from Ghana toRhodesia becoming an advisor to theWorld Bank and to theFood and Agriculture Organization. Between 1985 and 1986 he led aUnited Nations Narcotics Bureau mission to northernThailand and other far eastern countries to investigate drug-producing crops. In 1969 he was appointed President of theSouth African Association for the Advancement of Science.[3]
During his retirement he was the technical advisor onmine dumps and related problems forAnglo American plc.[3]
He died at Bluebird Farm,Hekpoort nearGauteng inSouth Africa on 17 January 1987.
He married Jeanie Dalgleish Turnbull (1903–1979), whom he met while studying for a degree in the Botany Department, University of Edinburgh. They had three daughters, Jean Dorothy, Marjory and Mary, and two sons, John Saunders Turnbull and Frederick Jan Smuts.[6]
