O'Neil Ray Collins | |
---|---|
Born | 9 March 1931 |
Died | April 8, 1989 58) | (aged
Nationality | American |
Alma mater | Southern University University of Iowa |
Scientific career | |
Fields | Mycology |
Institutions | Queens College Southern University Wayne State University University of California, Berkeley |
Thesis | Heterothallism and Homothallism in Two Myxomycetes (1961) |
Doctoral advisor | Constantine J. Alexopoulos |
O'Neil Ray Collins (9 March 1931 - April 8, 1989) was an American botanist, mycologist, and specialist in slime-mold genetics. [1]
Collins was born in Plaisance, Louisiana in 1931, and graduated from the local high school in 1948. After serving the United States Army in Europe, he earned his Bachelor of Science degree in botany in January 1957 from Southern University. His interest in mycology was cultivated by Lafayette Frederick, a professor at Southern. Collins later attended the University of Iowa and studied under Constantine J. Alexopoulos, receiving his master's in 1959 and doctorate in 1961. [1] His thesis involved the study of slime-molds in the genera Physarum and Didymium . [2]
In 1961 Collins began his teaching career at Queens College. He concurrently conducted research on Didymium with Ian Kenneth Ross at Yale. Collins accepted a faculty position at Southern University in 1963, and in 1965, he moved to Wayne State University in Detroit. [1]
In 1968, Collins became the first black faculty member in the Botany Department of the University of California, Berkeley. [3] He was Associate Dean of the Graduate Division and helped develop the Graduate Minority Program. He became a Miller Research Professor in 1974, and served as Chairman of the Department of Botany from 1976 to 1981. [1]
Collins died in 1989. At the time of his death, he was the only African-American biologist to have held a tenured position at Berkeley. [1]
Stephen Smale is an American mathematician, known for his research in topology, dynamical systems and mathematical economics. He was awarded the Fields Medal in 1966 and spent more than three decades on the mathematics faculty of the University of California, Berkeley, where he currently is Professor Emeritus, with research interests in algorithms, numerical analysis and global analysis.
The UC Berkeley College of Chemistry is one of the fourteen schools and colleges at the University of California, Berkeley. It houses the department of chemistry and the department of chemical and biomolecular engineering, both of which are ranked among the best in the world. Its faculty and alumni have won 18 Nobel Prizes, 9 Wolf Prizes, and 11 National Medals of Science.
Katherine Esau was a pioneering German-American botanist who studied plant anatomy and the effects of viruses. Her books Plant Anatomy and Anatomy of Seed Plants are key texts. In 1989, Esau received the National Medal of Science "In recognition of her distinguished service to the American community of plant biologists, and for the excellence of her pioneering research, both basic and applied, on plant structure and development, which has spanned more than six decades; for her superlative performance as an educator, in the classroom and through her books; for the encouragement and inspiration she has given to a legion of young, aspiring plant biologists; and for providing a special role model for women in science."
Neil Joseph Smelser (1930–2017) was an American sociologist who served as professor of sociology at the University of California, Berkeley. He was an active researcher from 1958 to 1994. His research was on collective behavior, sociological theory, economic sociology, sociology of education, social change, and comparative methods. Among many lifetime achievements, Smelser "laid the foundations for economic sociology."
Willis Linn Jepson was an early California botanist, conservationist, and writer.
Robert Marchant O'Neil was an American lawyer and educator. A specialist in constitutional law, he served as president of the University of Virginia (1985-1990) and created the Thomas Jefferson Center for the Protection of Free Expression, whose director he became (1990-2010). During these years, O'Neil remained associated with the university's law school, where he taught courses in the First Amendment and the Arts, Speech and Press, Church and State, and Free Speech in Cyberspace.
Linda Williams is an American professor of film studies in the departments of Film Studies and Rhetoric at University of California, Berkeley.
Robert Almer Harper was an American botanist.
Harvey Monroe Hall was an American botanist particularly noted for his taxonomic work in the western United States.
Richard Marshall Eakin, was an American zoologist and professor at the University of California, Berkeley. He was widely known for portraying prominent historical scientists during some of his lectures; dressing in costume and speaking in character to entertain and inform his students. A 1953 Guggenheim fellow, he wrote several books and more than 200 scientific papers. His research focused on eyes and vision in animals, especially the parietal eye or "third eye" of vertebrates, as well as animal embryology. He served as chairman of the UC Berkeley Department of Zoology for over 10 years, was elected president of the Western Society of Naturalists and American Society of Zoologists, and was a fellow of the California Academy of Sciences.
William Campbell Steere (1907–1989) was an American botanist known as an expert on bryophytes, especially arctic and tropical American species. The standard author abbreviation Steere is used to indicate this person as the author when citing a botanical name.
Neil Everett Stevens was an American mycologist and plant pathologist. He served as president of the Botanical Society of Washington (1931), American Phytopathological Society (1934), and Botanical Society of America (1948). His research chiefly concerned fungal diseases of crops such as chestnuts, strawberries, cranberries, currant, and corn. Stevens was born in Portland, Maine, graduated from Bates College in 1908, and earned a PhD. from Yale University in 1911. He was instructor at Kansas State College from 1911 to 1912, then worked at the Bureau of Plant Industry of the U.S. Department of Agriculture from 1912 to 1936. He worked as adjunct professor at George Washington University from 1931 to 1936, then professor of botany and plant pathology at the University of Illinois from 1936 to 1949.
Constantine John Alexopoulos was an American mycologist. He was the main author of the landmark book Introductory Mycology, commonly used in mycology and mycology-related courses in undergrad and grad schools around the globe. Introductory Mycology was translated into five languages.
Elizabeth Eaton Morse was an American mycologist. Born in Framingham, Massachusetts, she graduated from Ashland, Massachusetts, High School in 1882. For seven years she taught in elementary school before entering Wellesley College, from which she graduated with a diploma from the School of Art in 1891. After twenty years of teaching in the New York City schools Morris High School and Roosevelt High School, she returned to Wellesley College in 1924 and earned a degree in Botany in 1926. Shortly after, she registered as a part-time graduate student in the Department of Botany at the University of California, and was given storage and work space to pursue her interests in cryptogamic botany.
Joseph Andorfer Ewan (1909–1999) was an American botanist, naturalist, and historian of botany and natural history.
Jonathan Deininger Sauer was a botanist and plant geographer.
John Maurice Tucker was an American botanist, herbarium director, and leading expert on oak taxonomy.
Peter William Ball is an English-born botanist, plant collector, and plant taxonomist, specializing in caricology.
Herbert LouisMason (1896–1994) was an American botany professor, plant collector, and herbarium director.
Emanuel David "Rudy" Rudolph was a botanist, lichenologist, and historian of botany. He was "the first botanist to conduct diverse experiments on the total biology of lichens in both polar regions".