John Ramsbottom (mycologist)
Encyclopedia
Mycology
Mycology is the branch of biology concerned with the study of fungi, including their genetic and biochemical properties, their taxonomy and their use to humans as a source for tinder, medicinals , food and entheogens, as well as their dangers, such as poisoning or...
.
He was Keeper of Botany at the British Museum
British Museum
The British Museum is a museum of human history and culture in London. Its collections, which number more than seven million objects, are amongst the largest and most comprehensive in the world and originate from all continents, illustrating and documenting the story of human culture from its...
(Natural History). He served as general secretary and twice as president of the British Mycological Society
British Mycological Society
The British Mycological Society is a learned society established in 1896 to promote the study of fungi.-Formation:The Society was formed based on the efforts of two local societies, the Woolhope Naturalists' Field Club of Hereford and the Yorkshire Naturalists’ Union. The curator of the Hereford...
, and was long editor of its Transactions. He was president of the Linnean Society from 1937 to 1940 and was awarded their Linnean Medal
Linnean Medal
The Linnean Medal of the Linnean Society of London was established in 1888, and is awarded annually to alternately a botanist or a zoologist or to one of each in the same year...
in 1965. Dr Ramsbottom was President of the Society for the History of Natural History
Society for the History of Natural History
The Society for the History of Natural History is a friendly international society for everyone who is interested in natural history in the broadest sense. This includes botany, zoology and geology as well as natural history collections, exploration, art and bibliography. Everyone with an...
from 1943-1972. He was made an Honorary Member in 1972. Dr Ramsbottom made a bequest to the Society in his will and it was decided to utilise this to establish The Ramsbottom Lecture, to be given at the Society’s International Meetings, the first being delivered in April 1976.
"In reading the old accounts one finds a strange mixture of fact and fantasy. Some are so fantastic that if they had not been accepted by other authors they would not find a place in even a most detailed historical summary. Then there comes an observation of such merit that all seems set for real progress. But these facts, even when accepted, are often misinterpreted, almost as if in a superfluity of naughtiness, and again there is confusion." – John Ramsbottom, Mushrooms & Toadstools, 1953, p. 17
Selected publications
- -- (1917) "George Edward Massee" Journal of Botany 55: p. 225
- -- (1923) A handbook of the larger British Fungi British Museum, Dep't of Botany, London, OCLC 4142558
- -- (1945) Poisonous fungi Penguin Books, London, OCLC 220637
- -- (1953) Mushrooms and Toadstools: A Study of the Activities of Fungi Collins, London, OCLC 657799