Talk:John Hunter Thomas

A fact from John Hunter Thomas appeared on Wikipedia's Main Page in the Did you know column on 2 November 2023 (check views). The text of the entry was as follows:

Did you know... that insects not only destroyed the personal plant collection of John Hunter Thomas, but also bear his name?

A record of the entry may be seen at Wikipedia:Recent additions/2023/November. The nomination discussion and review may be seen at Template:Did you know nominations/John Hunter Thomas.

Wikipedia

Biography: Science and Academia

	Biography portal This article is within the scope of WikiProject Biography, a collaborative effort to create, develop and organize Wikipedia's articles about people. All interested editors are invited to join the project and contribute to the discussion. For instructions on how to use this banner, please refer to the documentation.BiographyWikipedia:WikiProject BiographyTemplate:WikiProject Biographybiography articles
	This article is supported by the science and academia work group.

California Low‑importance

	California portal This article is within the scope of WikiProject California, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of the U.S. state of California on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.CaliforniaWikipedia:WikiProject CaliforniaTemplate:WikiProject CaliforniaCalifornia articles
Low	This article has been rated as Low-importance on the project's importance scale.

Stanford University

	This article is within the scope of WikiProject Stanford University, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of Stanford University on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.Stanford UniversityWikipedia:WikiProject Stanford UniversityTemplate:WikiProject Stanford UniversityStanford University articles
???	This article has not yet received a rating on the project's importance scale.

Plants Low‑importance

	Plants portal This article is within the scope of WikiProject Plants, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of plants and botany on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.PlantsWikipedia:WikiProject PlantsTemplate:WikiProject Plantsplant articles
Low	This article has been rated as Low-importance on the project's importance scale.
	This article is about a botanist or someone who contributed to the field of botany.

Did you know nomination

The following is an archived discussion of the DYK nomination of the article below. Please do not modify this page. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as this nomination's talk page, the article's talk page or Wikipedia talk:Did you know), unless there is consensus to re-open the discussion at this page. No further edits should be made to this page.

The result was: promoted by Vaticidalprophet talk 02:47, 26 October 2023 (UTC)[reply]

(

Comment or view
Article history

)

... that botanist John Hunter Thomas was aboard the USS Ernest G. Small when it hit a mine? Source: Ehrlich, Paul R.; Mooney, Harold A.; Watt, Ward B. (2000). "John Thomas Memorial Resolution". Faculty Senate Session 33. Stanford University. Stanford Digital Repository. SearchWorks catalog.
- ALT1: ... that botanist John Hunter Thomas collected more than 20,000 plant specimens for herbaria throughout his career? Source: Daniel, Thomas F. (May 16, 2008). "One Hundred and Fifty Years of Botany at the California Academy of Sciences (1853–2003)". Proceedings of the California Academy of Sciences. Series 4, 59 (7): 258.
- ALT2: ... that insects not only destroyed the personal plant collection of John Hunter Thomas but also bear his name? Source: Daniel, Thomas F. (May 16, 2008). "One Hundred and Fifty Years of Botany at the California Academy of Sciences (1853–2003)". Proceedings of the California Academy of Sciences. Series 4, 59 (7): 258; Bickel, D. J.; Arnaud, P. H. (2011). "Medetera johnthomasi (Diptera: Dolichopodidae), a new species from California with notes on the aberrans species group". Pan-Pacific Entomologist. 87 (2): 128.
- Reviewed: Template:Did you know nominations/The Hustler (novel)
- Comment: Thomas served as an ensign in the United States Navy Reserve, active duty, during the Korean War, from 1951-1952.

Moved to mainspace by Viriditas (talk). Self-nominated at 02:48, 12 October 2023 (UTC). Post-promotion hook changes for this nom will be logged at Template talk:Did you know nominations/John Hunter Thomas; consider watching this nomination, if it is successful, until the hook appears on the Main Page.[reply]

Approved. Article is long enough, created within the window, and generally looks in good shape with no evidence plagiarism or copyvio. Personally, I think ALT2 is the most interesting (and hence the AGF tick). ALT0 checks but does slightly bury the lead that Thomas was wounded and left with shrapnel in his body for the rest of his life! Being very nit-picky, I'm not sure about ALT1: we know that he collected that many, but it seems that many or most stayed in his personal collection, which was subsequently devoured. Technically, that's a herbarium too, but I don't think I could get away with saying that I recently bought a book for a library on the same technicality. UndercoverClassicist ^T·C 21:20, 25 October 2023 (UTC)[reply]

To do

There's an interesting connection he has with Montana and his family, and I wonder how far back it goes. His father was a mining engineer, and I think there's a solid connection with Montana roots. The obituary for his sister also has a a lot of interesting family backstory with connections to Montana. Through his colleagues, we discover that he spent summers at Flathead Lake Biological Station, but I think it's quite likely he was visiting close family relatives as well. I will keep looking into this. Viriditas (talk) 22:09, 12 October 2023 (UTC)[reply]

I suspect these summers were spent teaching, because the station conducts field courses in the summer, but I have no evidence just yet. Viriditas (talk) 22:15, 12 October 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Added only what I could source. Viriditas (talk) 22:28, 12 October 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Found it! Adding now. Viriditas (talk) 19:36, 15 October 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Students

Making a list:

Muriel E. Poston (1950- ) - botanist, professor of environmental analysis, Howard, Pitzer College
Charles P. Quinn - naturalist, author
- Added. Viriditas (talk) 01:25, 13 October 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Eucalyptus removal

It would be nice to add content about Thomas' early proposal to remove invasive eucalyptus. While it was not a popular idea when he first proposed it (1980s, 1990s?), it is now semi-official policy in California, with removals occurring all over the SFBA. I'm personally curious as to what caused the sea change. Viriditas (talk) 23:08, 4 November 2023 (UTC)[reply]