American botanist at California State Polytechnic College in San Luis Obispo. Robert F. Hoover collected some 10,000 plant specimens from California and in particular explored the plant life of Placer County. Responsible for founding the botanical garden and herbarium at California State Polytechnic College, the latter was named after him in 1969. Hoover was responsible for the discovery of numerous species in many genera, including Agrostis L., Ceanothus L., Cryptantha Lehm. ex G. Don, Euphorbia L. and Tauschia Schltdl.

Born in Modesto, California, Hoover attended Stanford University in 1932 and was awarded a bachelor's degree in botany. Moving to the University of California, Berkeley, he studied for a master's degree and a PhD under Willis L. Jepson and received his doctorate in 1937 at the age of 23. Beginning his teaching career in Washington, the onset of the Second World War saw Hoover drafted into the US Army and he spent 15 months in England and another six in France before returning to California in 1946. It was at this time that he began to teach botany at California State Polytechnic, and he remained there until diagnosed with colon cancer in 1969. A member of the Sierra Club and the Audubon Society, he was one of the founders of the California Native Plant Society and elected a Fellow of the California Academy of Sciences in 1964. Several plant species also bear his name, such as Agrostis hooveri Swallen and Eriastrum hooveri (Jeps.) H. Mason.

Sources:
Introduction, Checklist of the Vascular Plants of Placer County, California, Sacramento State Biological Sciences:
http://www.csus.edu/bios/images/Placer%20County%20Flora%20Introduction.pdf.