Article: 'From the ashes: historical botanic photos destroyed in Cape Town fire resurrected'

PCU Director, Prof. Timm Hoffman, was interviewed by The Guardian about the losses incurred by the UCT fire in April. The extent of the damage to the historical photographic collection was highlighted, and Timm explains how these valuable sources of data are used: "Comparing pics of the same landscape can tell you about the nature of the change, the extent of change and the rate of change. [...] We use the past to understand the present so we can make predictions about the future."

Fellow researcher and current Head of the Biological Sciences Department, A/Prof. Tony Verboom, contributed that the preservation and digitsation of the invaluable contents of the Bolus Herbarium and adjoining library has been a priority for some time, and is now even more urgent. Author Nick Dall reports, "[...] Hoffman and Verboom agree that the biggest non-negotiable for academics the world over is to create secure, cloud-based backups of all their data."

Read the full article from The Guardian here.