**Life and Career of George Watt:**
– Born in Old Meldrum, Aberdeenshire, Scotland.
– Received degrees of M.B. and C.M. in 1873.
– Held various positions in India related to economic products and agriculture.
– Organized exhibitions and edited the Agricultural Ledger.
– Interested in missionary work in India.
– Retired in 1906 and settled in Lockerbie, Scotland.
– Lectured on Indian trees at Edinburgh University.
– Published a taxonomic work on the Primulas of India.
– Served as a County Councillor and Justice of Peace in Lockerbie.
– Died at his home in Lockerbie on 2 April 1930.
**Publications and Contributions of George Watt:**
– Catalogue of exhibits at the Calcutta International Exhibition.
– Compiled the Dictionary of the Economic Products of India.
– Studied tea cultivation in Assam and Kangra.
– Assistant, I.H. Burkill, published a similar work for the Malay Peninsula.
– Published notes on vegetation in Chumba State and British Lahoul.
– Works on Indian art, cotton plants, and more.
**Awards, Honors, and Recognition Received by George Watt:**
– Daniel Hanbury Gold medal in 1901.
– Knighted in the 1903 Durbar Honours.
– Officier d’Academie and Fellow of the Royal Society.
– Several plants named after him, including Rhododendron wattii and Iris wattii.
– Standard author abbreviation G.Watt used in citing botanical names.
**References and Citations of George Watt’s Work:**
– Referenced in publications like The Indian Biographical Dictionary.
– Obituary in the Bulletin of Miscellaneous Information.
– Death noted in The Scotsman.
– Citations in Glasgow Herald, Economic Botany, Current Science, Empire Forestry Journal, and The Times.
– Reviews in various sources like JSTOR.
**Botanical Research and Legacy of George Watt:**
– Focus on economic plants in India.
– Contributions to the study of economic plants, animals, and minerals.
– Investigations on pests and blights affecting tea plants.
– Recognition through Durbar Honours.
– Impactful contributions to botany and enduring influence on botanical research.
Sir George Watt CIE FLS (24 April 1851 – 2 April 1930) was a Scottish physician and botanist who worked in India as "Reporter" on economic botany and during the course of his career in India he compiled a major multivolume work, The Dictionary of Economic Products of India, the last volume of which was published in 1893. An abridged edition of his work was also published as the single volume Commercial Products of India in 1908. He is honoured in the binomials of several plants named after him.
