title: David Thoday
text: # David Thoday
  
  David Thoday FRS (5 May 1883 – 30 March 1964) was a botanist.
  
  ## Career
  
  Thoday was Harry Bolus professor of botany, University of Cape Town and later professor at the University College of North Wales 1923–1949. As a botanist, his work is denoted by the author abbreviation Thoday when citing a botanical name.
  
  ## Awards and honours
  
  He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1942. His nomination reads
  
     Professor of Botany in the University College of North Wales, Bangor. Distinguished for researches in plant physiology and causal anatomy, in which he has carried out work over a wide field. In his earlier work he made important contributions to our knowledge of photosynthesis and respiration. This was followed by investigations on the water relations of plants in which particular attention was paid to the problems of microphylly. His later work has dealt with growth and differentiation in Compositae, and more especially with succulent members of this family, as exemplified in particular by 'Kleina articulata'. He has also made a number of contributions to taxonomy, including a revision of the genus 'Passerina'.
  
  ## Personal life
  
  His son was the geneticist John Thoday.
  
  