Biography
Balfour was educated at the Edinburgh Academy. At this early stage his interests and abilities were in the biological sciences, which were taught to him by his father. Due to his father's post as Professor of Botany at Edinburgh, the young Balfour was able to visit the Edinburgh Botanical Gardens, not open to the public at the time.
Balfour studied at the University of Edinburgh, from which he graduated with first class honours in 1873, and at the universities in Warzburg and Strassburg (Strasbourg).
In 1874 Balfour participated in an astronomical expedition of 1874 to Rodrigues. Though the stated aim of the mission was to observe Venus, Balfour used the opportunity to investigate the local flora, and on his return, the fieldwork he had carried out permitted him to gain his doctorate.
In 1879, his father resigned the chair at Edinburgh, Glasgow professor Alexander Dickson (1836–1887) was appointed in his place, and the younger Balfour was promoted to the chair of Regius Professor of Botany, Glasgow in Glasgow from 1879 to 1885. He also went on to lead an expedition to Socotra in 1880.
In 1884, he was appointed Sherardian Professor of Botany at the University of Oxford.
It was, however, after his return to Edinburgh in to take up his father's old chair from 1888 to 1922 that Balfour left his mark. His father had greatly enlarged the botanical gardens during his tenure, but Balfour completely transformed them. Having put their finances on a safer footing by transferring them to the crown, Balfour engaged himself in a major reform of the gardens, establishing a proper botanical institute, and largely redeveloping the layout of the gardens in order to have a proper arboretum, building new laboratories and improving scientific facilities.
Read more about this topic: Isaac Bayley Balfour
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