Brief description
Sophie Ducker was a renowned botanist and Australian botanical historian. Born in Germany, Ducker fled many war zones to eventually settle in Australia around 1941. She joined the University of Melbourne's Botany Department as a Technical Assistant in 1944, retiring as a senior lecturer in Botany in 1974. She was particularly interested in phycology - the study of seaweed, and studying the many 18th and 19th century explorers, botanists and artists who first described Australia. Ducker has an annual postgraduate scholarship endowed in her name.Full description
Ducker began her botanical studies at the Universities of Geneva and Stuttgart, but stopped in 1931 when she married Dr Johann Friedrich Ducker, executive officer of Germany's Chamber of Commerce. Soon afterwards she had her only child, a son. Due to the out-beak of war, Ducker and her family were forced to leave Germany and in 1938 they settled in Tehran, Persia (now Iran). She became trapped in Rhodesia for a year in 1939 as a result of World War II and with much grit and determination, eventually made her way back to Tehran to meet up with her family. Then in 1941, war once again forced the Duckers to flee their home and they ended up in Australia.
Now aged 35, Ducker was still determined to work in the field of botany. In 1944 she worked as a research assistant for Dr Ethel McLennan at The University of Melbourne's botany school, studying the relatively new field of the anti-biotic properties of fungi and soil microorganisms. Ducker also completed (part-time) her BSc and Masters degrees during this time. She went on to specialize in marine botany, especially algae, and initiated the 1969 and 1973 studies of Port Phillip Bay. Ducker also became a competent lecturer, supervisor and historian. After her 'official' retirement in 1974, Sophie Ducker continued her research which expanded to include the study of flowering marine plants, and researching the histories of the earliest recorders of Australia's flora, especially the seaweeds. Sophie Ducker donated around 1200 books on botany, including one written by St Augustine in 1466, to the University of Melbourne's Baillieu Library.
Sophie Charlotte Ducker was born in Dresden in 1909. She and family fled Germany in 1938 and upon arriving in Australia were interned in the Enemy Aliens Detention Centre in Tatura. After her release in 1944 she became a technical assistant in the Botany School - botany had been an abiding interest since childhood - under the mentorship of Dr Ethel McLennan, and studied part-time for a BSc. In 1953 she was appointed Senior Demonstrator and by the time of her retirement in 1974, she was a Reader in Botany. Her special area was marine biology, which she introduced to the Botany School curriculum. After retirement her interests expanded to include seagrasses and those botanists who had first described Australian flora, the latter resulted in her publication of the edited letters of William Harvey, 'The Contented Botanist', in 1988. She was awarded an AM, DSc and LLB (Hons). Sophie Ducker died on 20 May, 2004.
Sophie Charlotte Ducker was born in Dresden in 1909. She and family fled Germany in 1938 and upon arriving in Australia were interned in the Enemy Aliens Detention Centre in Tatura. After her release in 1944 she became a technical assistant in the Botany School - botany had been an abiding interest since childhood - under the mentorship of Dr Ethel McLennan, and studied part-time for a BSc. In 1953 she was appointed Senior Demonstrator and by the time of her retirement in 1974, she was a Reader in Botany. Her special area was marine biology, which she introduced to the Botany School curriculum. After retirement her interests expanded to include seagrasses and those botanists who had first described Australian flora, the latter resulted in her publication of the edited letters of William Harvey, 'The Contented Botanist', in 1988. She was awarded an AM, DSc and LLB (Hons). Sophie Ducker died on 20 May, 2004.
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Identifiers
- NLA : http://nla.gov.au/nla.party-461634
- AuCNLKIN : http://nla.gov.au/anbd.aut-an35047414
- AU-VU:EOAS : http://www.eoas.info/biogs/P000374b.htm
- AU-VU : http://hdl.handle.net/11343/62351
- AU-VU : http://hdl.handle.net/11343/126846
- AU-AuCNLKIN : 35047414
- AuCNLKIN : abv00126396