David Smith (botanist)

Smith was the youngest of two sons. His parents were William Smith, a mining engineer, and Elva (née Deeble) who was a teacher. The family remained in the Sinai desert until the end of World War II, except for occasional periods of leave. In one such period, Smith was born, and lived in the Sinai desert until he was five, when he returned to the UK to live with his grandparents and aunt, Iris, in Port Talbot where he attended primary school. It was while St Paul's School, that his interest in the subject of biology started, while on field trips. He applied to study medicine at University of Oxford. However, he discovered that he could have financial support from a Browne scholarship to study botany at The Queen's College, Oxford, so he changed programme. He was awarded a Bachelor of Arts in Botany, achieving a First-class honours in 1951. Smith immediately followed this with postgraduate research on lichens and was awarded D.Phil in 1954. ==Career and research==

Smith completed his Doctor of Philosophy in two years, as his National service was impending. He spent his time in Germany, and joined the Intelligence Corps to research Nuclear warfare. Smith returned to a position at Oxford in 1980 as the Sibthorpian Professor of Rural Economy, From 1994 to September 2000 he was President of Wolfson College, Oxford He became an Honorary Fellow of Wadham College, Oxford in 2002. He was a distinguished supporter of Humanists UK. He was a member of the Advisory Council for the Campaign for Science and Engineering. Honors and awards Smith also received an honorary doctorate from Heriot-Watt University in 1993 He was elected as a fellow of the Royal Society in 1975 and was biological secretary from 1983 to 1987. He was awarded a knighthood in 1986. ==Personal life==

Smith married twice, firstly in 1959 to the plant physiologist Daphne Osborne, but they divorced in 1962. In 1965, he married Lesley Mutch, a Scottish doctor and epidemiologist and they had three children together, called Bryony, Adam and Cameron. Upon his retirement, the family returned to Morningside in Edinburgh in 2000. == References ==