Biography
J.J. Smith sailed to Java in 1891 and became assistant curator at the Buitenzorg Botanical Gardens (near Batavia), now Bogor. He made several expeditions in Java, Celebes (now Sulawesi), the Ambon Islands and the Moluccas. In 1905 he was promoted to assistant of the herbarium. He was awarded an honorary Ph.D. degree at the Utrecht University in 1910. Finally, he was appointed the director of the Botanical Gardens at Buitenzorg from 1913 till his retirement in 1924. He then returned to Holland, settled in Utrecht and later in Oegstgeest, near Leiden. He continued describing orchids till shortly before his death in 1947, such as naming the Sumatran orchid Dendrochilum atjehense J.J.Sm. 1943.
Read more about this topic: Johannes Jacobus Smith
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