December 10

Joseph Dalton Hooker was born in 1817 in Kew, London, into a family of botanists. He accompanied Sir James Clark Ross on Antarctic and Arctic voyages, collecting plant specimens from remote regions. Hooker served as director of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, from 1865 to 1885, expanding its scientific collections. He published extensive floras of India, the Himalayas, and the British colonies, laying the groundwork for modern plant taxonomy. Hooker was a close friend of Charles Darwin and provided critical support for the theory of evolution through his botanical research. His work on the geographical distribution of plants helped establish biogeography as a scientific discipline. He received numerous honors, including the Royal Medal and a knighthood for his contributions to science. He died on December 10, 1911, leaving a lasting impact on botany and natural history.