Vernon Ahmadjian

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Vernon Ahmadjian
Born(1930-05-19)May 19, 1930
DiedMarch 13, 2012(2012-03-13) (aged 81)
Education Clark University, Harvard University
Occupation(s)professor, Lichenologist

Vernon Ahmadjian (May 19, 1930 - March 13, 2012) was a distinguished professor at Clark University in Worcester, Massachusetts. He specialized in the symbiosis of lichens, and wrote several books and numerous publications on the subject.

Contents

Career

Ahmadjian was born on May 19, 1930, in Whitinsville, Massachusetts. After graduating with his BA in 1952 from Clark University, Ahmadjian served for two years in the United States Army in the Combat Medical Corps during the Korean War. Upon his return to civilian life, Ahmadjian continued his studies at Clark, receiving his MA in 1956, and then went on to achieve his PhD from Harvard University in 1960. [1]

Owing to his lichen field work in the 1960s at McMurdo Station in Antarctica, the National Science Foundation awarded him with the Antarctic Medal in 1967, and gave a peak in the Queen Alexandria Range of the Transantarctic Mountains the name of "Ahmadjian Peak". [1]

In 1996, Ahmadjian was honored by the International Association for Lichenology (IAL) with an Acharius Medal for outstanding research in the field of lichenology. [2]

Ahmadjian introduced the term 'chlorolichen' in 1989 to describe lichens with green algal photobionts, creating a clear terminological counterpart to 'cyanolichen' (for lichens with cyanobacterial photobionts). He first used the term in a paper on lichen bionts, writing "enough species of lichens with green photobionts (chlorolichens) have been synthesized", and later employed it in his 1993 book The Lichen Symbiosis. This terminology became widely adopted in lichenology for distinguishing between these two fundamental types of lichen symbioses. [3]

Ahmadjian's influence on the field of lichenology extended beyond his direct research contributions. In 1995, he published an invited letter in BioScience stating that lichens were the dominant organism in 8% of terrestrial habitats on Earth, attributing this statistic to Douglas W. Larson. This claim, although unsupported by empirical evidence, became widely cited in both academic literature and popular media. A 2024 study by Drotos et al. traced the origins of this statistic, revealing it to be an unevidenced estimate that proliferated through scientific literature without critical evaluation. The study found 76 academic articles and 37 popular media items repeating variations of this claim, highlighting the importance of rigorous citation practices in scientific communication. [4]

He died on March 13, 2012, in Falmouth, Massachusetts. [1]

Books

Articles

The standard author abbreviation Ahmadjian is used to indicate this person as the author when citing a botanical name. [5]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 "In Memory of Vernon Ahmadjian, Ph.D". Miles Funeral Homes. Retrieved 2 July 2013.
  2. "Acharius Medallists". International Association for Lichenology. Archived from the original on 2021-06-24. Retrieved 2021-02-03.
  3. Lange, Otto L.; Wagenitz, Gerhard (2004). "Vernon Ahmadjian introduced the term 'chlorolichen'". The Lichenologist. 36 (2): 171. doi:10.1017/S0024282904014240.
  4. Drotos, Katherine H.I.; Larson, Douglas W.; McMullin, R. Troy (2024). "Scientific telephone: The cautionary tale of the global coverage of lichens". BioScience. 74 (7): 473–477. doi:10.1093/biosci/biae048. PMC   11328143 . PMID   39156616.
  5. International Plant Names Index. Ahmadjian.