Dr Ralph Randles Stewart
| Ralph Randles Stewart | |
|---|---|
| Born | April 15, 1890 Hebron, New York, United States of America |
| Died | November 6, 1993 (aged 103) Duarte, California, United States |
| Residence | Islamabad, Pakistan |
| Nationality | American |
| Fields | Botany |
| Institutions |
Gordon College University of Michigan Columbia University, New York |
| Alma mater |
Columbia University, United States University of Punjab, Pakistan Alma College, Michigan, United States |
| Known for | His work on the Botany and educational efforts in the Universities and college of Pakistan and United States. |
| Notable awards | Kaiser-e-Hind (1938) Sitara-e-Imtiaz (1961) |
Ralph Randles Stewart (April 15, 1890 – November 6, 1993) usually referred to as R. R. Stewart, was an American botanist who spent his career teaching and studying plants in Pakistan.
Stewart was born in Hebron, New York. He obtained his B.A. and Ph.D. degrees from Columbia University, New York; D.Sc. Honorary (1953) from the University of the Punjab, Lahore and LLD Honorary (1963) from Alma College, Michigan, USA.
Upon graduating from Columbia College in 1911, Stewart accepted a three-year position with the United Presbyterian Church teaching botany and zoology at Gordon College (Pakistan), in Rawalpindi (then in India). After spending from September, 1911 until July, 1914, in that position, he returned to the United States and in the fall of 1914 began graduate studies at Columbia. In 1916 he completed his Ph.D and married fellow-Columbia graduate student Isabelle Caroline Darrow. That fall he returned to Gordon College, where he served as Professor in Botany (1917–1960), and Principal of Gordon College (1934–1954).
After retiring from Gordon College, in 1960 Stewart moved back to the United States. He took a position as Research Associate (1960–1981) at the University of Michigan Herbarium with over 30,000 plant specimens that he had collected in India, Kashmir, Iran, etc.
In recognition of his services to educational and botanical work, Stewart was awarded the Kaiser-e-Hind (Emperor of India) gold medal in 1938, and the Sitara-e-Imtiaz (Star of Distinction) in 1961. He was recognized as a Member of the American Association for Advancement of Sciences in 1984, and as a foreign member Pakistan Academy of Sciences in 1983.
At that time the flora of India and Western Himalayas was not well known. Stewart embarked on plant collection trips, often on his bicycle, as far as Kashmir and into Western Tibet. He continued to collect plants every summer (1912–1959) without any financial support. In 1960, when Dr. Stewart retired at the age of 70, he gave his collection of over 50,000 plant specimens, now called the Stewart Collection, to Professor E. Nasir at Gordon College (Rawalpindi). The Stewart Collection has been deposited in the National Herbarium of the government of Pakistan at Islamabad, leaving a very rich heritage for the students of plant sciences.
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