William Henry Harvey

William Henry Harvey (5 February 1811–15 May 1866) was an Irish botanist who specialised in algae.

Biography

William Henry Harvey was born at Summerville near Limerick, Ireland, in 1811, the youngest of 11 children. His father Joseph Massey Harvey, was a Quaker and prominent merchant. William started his education at Ballitore School in County Kildare and by the age of 15 had already established algae as his overriding interest.Papenfuss, G.F. 1976. pp.21–46. Landmarks in Pacific North American Marine Phycology. in Abbott, I.A. and Hollenberg, G.J. 1976. Marine Algae of California. Stanford University Press, California. ISBN 0-8047-0867-3 After leaving school he joined the family business.

Harvey was an authority on algae and bryophytes (mosses), and author of A Manual of the British Algae (1841), Phycologia Britannica (4 vols., 1846–51), Nereis Boreali-Americana. (3 parts 1852–85) and Phycologia Australica (5 vol., 1858–63). He spent several years in South Africa, and was the author, with Otto Wilhelm Sonder, of the Flora Capensis (7 vol. in 11, 1859–1933). Harvey's main algal herbarium is located at Trinity College, Dublin.

Harvey's discovery in 1831 of the moss Hookeria laetevirens at Killarney, new to Ireland, led to a lifelong friendship with Sir William Jackson Hooker, who was then Regius Professor of Botany at Glasgow University....
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