English botanist, Professor of Botany at Glasgow, Director of Glasgow Botanic Gardens from 1820 to 1841, Director of Kew Gardens from 1841 to 1865. William Jackson Hooker opened the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew to the public. His son, Joseph Dalton Hooker (1817-1911), also a Director of Kew Gardens, published his Himalayan Journals (1854) and did much to stimulate interest in planting rhododendrons in British gardens.
