Hendrik de Wit
| Hendrik Cornelis Dirk de Wit | |
|---|---|
| Born |
24 October 1909 Purmerend, The Netherlands |
| Died | 16 March 1999 (aged 89) Heelsum, The Netherlands |
| Residence | The Netherlands, South Africa, Dutch East Indies |
| Citizenship | Dutch |
| Fields | Plant taxonomy |
| Institutions | Wageningen University and Research Centre |
| Alma mater | University of Amsterdam |
| Known for | studies on and Lagenandra |
| Influenced | Wim Crusio |
| Author abbrev. (botany) | de Wit |
Hendrik (Henk) Cornelis Dirk de Wit (24 October 1909 – 16 March 1999) was a Dutch systematic botanist who contributed significantly to the knowledge of the Aroid genera and Lagenandra. He grew up in the Waterland, a marshy area in the Northwest Netherlands, and had a lifelong interest in aquatic plants.
De Wit studied biology at the University of Amsterdam from 1931-1937. In 1937 he left for Pretoria, South Africa, where he worked as an agricultural research officer with the Department of Agriculture. In 1941 he obtained his Ph.D. with a thesis on the genus Setaria from the grass family (Poaceae). In the same year, he moved to the Dutch East Indies (nowadays Indonesia).
During World War II de Wit worked in the 's Lands Plantentuin te Buitenzorg. After his return to The Netherlands in 1946 he worked for the Flora Malesiana Foundation. De Wit was a gifted teacher and on 20 September 1953 he became a lecturer at Leiden University where he taught plant taxonomy and morphology of flowering plants and on 1 November of the same year also at the Wageningen University and Research Centre, where he taught taxonomy and tropical and subtropical plant geography. In 1959 he left Leiden to become full professor in Wageningen and on 15 September 1969 he became the head of the Laboratory of Plant Taxonomy and Plant Geography there. De Wit retired in 1980, at which occasion a Festschrift was published in his honour.
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