Such a seed was planted just over 100 years ago, in 1919, when the Department of Biological Subjects was established as one of the pioneering academic units of the then “Het Potchefstroom Universiteitskollege voor Christelik Hoger Onderwijs”.

 

Now known as the School of Biological Sciences, and consisting of the Zoology and Botany subject groups, this once fledgling department stands tall today.

 

The NWU & U dipped into the archives for some interesting historical milestones and facts about the school and each of these subject fields. In this edition, the focus is on Botany.

 

The early years

 

Back then there were no modern laboratories or state-of-the-art equipment as students are used to today, but that doesn’t mean the department’s early years were any less memorable.

 

For starters, lectures and practical work were conducted in the stable of the then presidential residence of MW Pretorius – known today as the President Pretorius Museum in Potchefstroom.

 

The year 1920 saw the formal introduction of botany and zoology as subjects within the Department for Biological Subjects, and Sieg Eiselen was appointed to lecture both these subjects.

 

Three years later the department was relocated to where the Totius Hall is on the Potchefstroom Campus, and makeshift laboratories were set up in old decommissioned military barracks made of zinc.

 

Breaking new ground: Botany’s pioneers

 

The first-ever dedicated botany lecturer was Mildred Radloff, who was appointed in 1925. When she married JP van der Merwe (later professor) in 1930, she was forced to resign since protocol dictated that married women were not allowed to teach!

 

To this day, the department honours the memory of “Tannie Millie”, whose bequest in 1997 funds the Mildred Van Der Merwe-Radloff Foundation’s annual awards for the best-performing master’s and doctoral students.

 

Bursary worth a whopping R450

 

In 1935, Prof AP Goossens was appointed as the first professor and head of department for Botany. One of his MSc students, Max Papendorf – who would later serve as professor and the third head of department – received a coveted study bursary for his research in 1940.

 

The bursary, to the value of R450, was enough to enable him to study abroad but the war prevented him from doing so.

 

Three more heads of department followed before the establishment of academic schools in 1996. It was only then that Botany became an independent subject group, which various subject heads managed on a rotational basis.

 

Throughout the years, the subject group has seen many shifts in training and research and boasts a healthy growth in student numbers. Its staff enjoy local and international research recognition, while former students hold important positions in the public and private sectors and its graduates are sought after in the labour market.

 

Did you know?

 

• Botany can be taken as a major in conjunction with other subjects such as zoology, microbiology, chemistry, biochemistry, geology and geography to obtain a BSc degree.

 

• At postgraduate level, botany is an important part of various subprogrammes within environmental sciences.