Hawkes, J.G. 1915–2007

(John Gregory Hawkes)

OBITUARY NOTICE—

See index for CA sketch: Born June 27, 1915, in Bristol, England; died September 6, 2007. Botanist, educator, and author. Hawkes had one specialty and one passion—the potato. He explored Mexico and South America for more than forty years, discovering and collecting as many specimens as he could find. His collection, which included many of the 200 or more known species of wild potato, enabled the scientist to establish an evolutionary chronology going back millions of years. Hawkes and his colleagues applied this knowledge to the field of crop-plant genetics, with the intention of improving commercially cultivated potatoes for greater disease and pest resistance and greater adaptability as a food source. Hawkes was a professor of botany at the University of Birmingham for thirty years, and a longtime affiliate of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, the Royal Botanic Gardens, and the International Potato Center. His discoveries earned him significant recognition from his peers, including the Frank Meyer Award of the American Genetics Association, the gold medal of the Linnean Society of London, and the N.I. Vavilov Centenary Medal of the Russian Academy of Agricultural Sciences. Hawkes wrote or edited several books, including Conservation and Agriculture(1978),Plant Genetic Resources: The Impact of the International Research Centers(1985),The Potato: Evolution, Biodiversity, and Genetic Resources(1990), and Genetic Conservation of World Crop Plants(1991).

OBITUARIES AND OTHER SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Times(London, England), November 7, 2007, p. 66.