Jorge Paiva

Jorge Américo Rodrigues de Paiva, born in Cambondo, Angola, on September 17, 1933, has a degree in Biological Sciences from the University of Coimbra and a PhD in Biology from the Department of Natural Resources and Environment of the University of Vigo (Spain). He was a principal researcher at the Department of Botany at the University of Coimbra, where he taught several subjects; He was also a visiting professor at the Faculty of Pharmacy of the University of Coimbra, in the Biology Departments of the Universities of Aveiro and Madeira, in the Landscape Architecture degree course at the Vasco da Gama University of Coimbra, in the Environmental Engineering Department of the Higher School of Technology and Management of the Polytechnic Institute of Viseu and in the Department of Natural Resources and Environment of the University of Vigo (Spain). Currently retired, he is a member of the Ethics Council of the University of Minho and a member of the Public Council of the Pavilhão do Conhecimento – Centro de Ciência Viva. As a fellow of the National Institute for Scientific Research (INIC), he worked for three years in London, at Kew Gardens and in the Natural History Section of the British Museum. As a phytotaxonomist, he traveled throughout Europe, particularly the Iberian Peninsula, the Macaronesian Islands, Africa, South America, Asia and Australia. He was a member of the editorial and writing committee of numerous scientific journals, namely Flora Ibérica (Portugal and Spain), Flora de Cabo Verde and Conspectus Florae Angolensis, as well as some others; has collaborated in studies of some groups of higher plants of African floras, such as Flora Zambesiaca (Mozambique, Malawi, Zimbabwe, Zambia and Botswana), Flora of Tropical East Africa (Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda), Flore du Gabon and Flore du Cameroun, integrating international groups of researchers in studies and collections of field material, not only in the Iberian Peninsula, but also in African countries (Mozambique, Kenya, Seychelles, Tanzania, Zimbabwe, Angola, Cape Verde and São Tomé and Príncipe), Asian countries (Timor, Thailand and Vietnam) and American countries (Brazil and Paraguay). Of the taxonomic works in which he collaborated as a co-author, the “Catalogue des Plantes Vasculaires du Nord du Maroc”, from 2003, was awarded the silver medal by the Organization for the Phyto-Taxonomic Investigation of the Mediterranean Area (OPTIMA), as the best work on Mediterranean flora; as co-editor and co-author, “Flora Ibérica” was awarded by the Unión de Editoriales Universitarias Españolas as the best scientific collection published in 2007. As a palynologist, he collaborated with beekeeping entities and with the Pneumology Services of the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Coimbra, having been distinguished with two of the works prepared with the clinical staff of this Faculty: with the 1st Prize of the Portuguese Society of Respiratory Pathology, in 1979, for the study “Pollinosis in the Central Region of Portugal”, and with the 1st Annual SPAIC/UCB-STALLERGENES Prize, in 1994, for the study “HLA and Allergy — Application to the study of Parietaria lusitanica”. As an environmentalist, he is well known for his uncompromising defense of the environment, being an active member of several national and foreign associations and commissions; This activity was awarded, in 1993, with the Quercus National Award – National Association for Nature Conservation, in 2001 and 2002, with two honorable mentions from the Fernando Pereira National Environmental Award from the National Confederation of Environmental Defense Associations and, in 2005, with the Career Award from the National Confederation of Environmental Defense Associations, and with the Friends of Prosepe Award for the School Population Awareness Project (Prosepe). For his work as a scientist, teacher and science communicator, he was honored: by the International Dendrological Society, as an honorary member, in 1983; by the University of Coimbra, in 2013, with a solemn session in the Auditorium of the Rectory, entitled “A Life dedicated to Botany”.