Clarence James Hickman
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Clarence James Hickman (1 April 1914 – 24 September 1980) was a British-Canadian mycologist[1]. He is noteworthy for his discovery in 1940 that the oomycete species Phytophthora fragariae is the cause of the disease red stele (aka red core root disease) in strawberry plants.[2]
Hickman was born in Birmingham, UK.
Education and career
At the University of Birmingham, Hickman graduated in botany with a B.Sc. in 1934, an M.Sc. in 1937,[3] and a Ph.D. in 1936. As a postdoc he was from 1936 to 1938 an assistant in the Ministry of Agriculture Service. From 1938 to 1944 he was a research officer at the Plant Pathology Laboratory at Harpenden. At the University of Birmingham, he was a lecturer from 1944 to 1955 and a reader from 1955 to 1960.[4]
For the British Mycological Society he served as the secretary from 1948 to 1952 and as the president for a one-year term from 1957 to 1958.[4] In 1958 his presidential address gave an excellent summary review of the plant-damaging genus Phytophthora, including the biology of its survival and dispersal, the range of its plant hosts, and its physiological specializations.[5][6]
In 1960 Hickman moved to Canada. In the botany department of the University of Western Ontario (UWO) he was a full professor from 1960 until he retired as professor emeritus.[4] At UWO he was also of the head of botany department.[7]
