Richard Neville Lester

Richard Neville Lester (born June 13, 1937 - April 4, 2006 in Birmingham ) was a British botanist . His particular area of interest was the genus of the nightshade ( Solanum ) and the family of the Solanaceae family in general.

Life

Richard Neville Lester grew up in rural England, where he came into contact with animals and plants at an early age. He lost his mother in an accident at the age of 13. Stimulated by a cactus that she gave him shortly before her death, he began to be interested in Cactaceae at an early age . After studying plant biology and plant taxonomy, he accepted a position as a research assistant at the Department of Botany at the University of Birmingham in 1958 . There he dealt with the biochemical systematics of wild Mexican potato species. He completed his doctoral thesis entitled "Immunochemical Studies of the Genus Solanum ", supervised by Professor John Gregory Hawkes . This was followed by a stay at the Department of Botany at the University of Texas in Austin until 1964 . From 1964 to 1966 he briefly returned to the UK to teach at the Bolton Institute of Technology . He spent the next two years (1966 to 1968) again in the USA, this time as an employee at the Department of Zoology at the University of Kansas , and then spent a year in Africa at Makerere University College in Uganda. He then returned to his British homeland and worked for 31 years (1969 to 2000) again at the University of Birmingham. Less than a year after his retirement he was diagnosed with cancer in the summer of 2001 , but this did not prevent him from further scientific work, including an extensive expedition through the western Pyrenees of Spain . However, on April 4, 2006, he died in Birmingham as a result of the disease. He left behind his wife Celia and his children John and Clare.

research

After Richard Neville Lester initially dealt with the biochemistry of the nightshade genus ( Solanum ) during his first years as a scientist , he devoted himself from 1962 to 1968 to the immunotaxonomy of various groups of organisms, such as the leguminous plants (Leguminosae), the slime molds (Myxomycetes), the algae (Algae), the composites (Compositae), the mushrooms (Fungi) and the bats (Microchiroptera). He then devoted himself mainly to the nightshade family (Solanaceae), especially the nightshade ( Solanum ). He built up an extensive herbarium collection of nightshade plants at the University of Birmingham and, together with John Gregory Hawkes and AD Skedling, organized the first International Solanaceae Conference in Birmingham in 1976 and participated in the following four editions of the conference until 2000.

His research projects included the European Union- funded project "European Solanaceae Information Network (ESIN)" (1993–1996), of which he was the coordinator, and the "Eggplant Network (EGGNET)" (2000 to 2005).

He spoke a large number of foreign languages, including German, French, Spanish and Latin, which enabled him to work with many international scholars.

University professor

From 1969 to 2000 he was a professor at the University of Birmingham. He took both to the teaching of students in basic studies (undergraduate program) and the program for a further study in part (master's degree program). He set up the world's first degree program aimed at securing genetic resources in plants.

He held lectures in a wide variety of basic study subjects such as plant reproduction, evolution of land plants, systematics of flowering plants, biodiversity, biochemical systematics and ecology, numerical taxonomy and evolution of useful plants. His advanced lectures included, among other things, the diversity and evolution of crops, biochemical systematics, genetic diversity of molecular markers, in-situ conservation and remote sensing, and agro-ecology. These lectures were accompanied by study projects and field assignments. During his time as a university lecturer, he supervised around 60 master's theses and twelve doctoral theses.

Works

Richard Neville Lester was editor of the 1977 to 1979 published "Solanaceae Newsletter" and the proceedings of the "International Solanaceae Conference" of 1976, 1988 and 1994. He published about 135 scientific articles. 35% of these articles dealt with various aspects of eggplant ( Solanum melongena ) and related wild species, 20% dealt with the chemotaxonomy of the nightshade family, and again 20% with other taxonomic and genetic aspects of the nightshade family. The remaining publications dealt, among other things, with the identification, description and relationship of different species inside and outside the nightshade family, the use of enzymes to improve germination and the use of spermoderm properties for taxonomic studies.

swell

• Marie-Christine Daunay and Gerard M. van der Weerden: Plants, Solanaceae and Solanum Species: the Lifelong Passion of Richard Neville Lester (June 13, 1937 - April 4, 2006) . In: DM Spooner et al. (Ed.): Solanaceae VI: Genomics Meets Biodiversity , ISHS Acta Horticulturae 745, June 2007. ISBN 978-9066054271