John Earle Raven (13 December 1914 – 5 March 1980) was an English classical scholar, notable for his work on pre-Socratic philosophy, and amateur botanist.
His wife, Faith, inherited the 35,000 acre Ardtornish Estate in Argyllshire, Scotland; their family continues to run it today as a commercial enterprise.
As Senior Tutor at King's in the 1960s he turned the college to the left, telling public schools that their boys could no longer expect to "swan in", as previously.
[10] While Raven's principal professional occupation was his career as a classical scholar, he applied a similar intellectual rigour to his amateur interest in botany.
The sheer scale of the discoveries aroused scepticism, and in 1948 Raven secured a grant from Trinity College to fund a trip to Harris and Rùm in July and August of that year to investigate the claims of Heslop-Harrison.
Raven's report to the council of Trinity College states: "In the interests not only of truth but also of the reputation of British science it is essential somehow to discover what plants and what insects he (Heslop Harrison) has either completely fabricated or else deliberately introduced into the Hebrides.