Albert C. Smith
University of Hawaii at Manoa
April 5, 1906 - May 23, 1999
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Scientific Discipline: Plant Biology Membership Type:
Emeritus
(elected 1963)
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Albert Smith was a leader among plant systematists. During his many extensive field studies in South America and the Fiji Islands, he contributed research to phylogenic taxonomy and the origins and phylogenic relationships of primitive dicotyledons. These studies gave support to the theory that angiosperms had originated in southeastern Asia or Australia. He published numerous books and articles on the classification and ecological association of flowering plants and ferns.
Smith graduated from Columbia with an AB degree in 1926 and a PhD in 1933. His botany career included positions at the New York Botanical Garden from 1931 to 1940, the Arnold Arboretum at Harvard University from 1940 to 1948, and the Smithsonian Institution’s U.S. National Museum (later named the Museum of Natural History) from 1948 to 1956. In 1956 he became the program director for systematic biology at the National Science Foundation, and in 1958 he was appointed the director of the Museum of Natural History. He was vice president of the systematic section of the International Botanical Congress in 1950, president of the American Society of Plant Taxonomists in 1955, and vice president of the International Association for Plant Taxonomy in 1959.
