Obituary: Professor H. R. Wallace—distinguished nematologist and plant pathologist 1924–2011

Abstract

H.R. (Harry) Wallace was born on 12 September 1924, inLancashire, England. During World War II, he served in theRoyal Navy. Hesubsequentlytrained as azoologist andthenstudied wood-boring beetles for his Ph.D., which he re-ceived from the University of Liverpool. In 1952, he joinedthe School of Agriculture at the University of Cambridgeand began working on nematodes, studying seasonal emer-gence and the effects of soil structure, particularly aeration,on hatching in Heterodera schachtii. Whilst at Cambridge,Harry Wallace had extensive discussions with Sir JamesGray, Professor of Zoology, which led to his work onlocomotion in nematodes, commencing soon after he movedto Rothamsted Experimental Station (now RothamstedResearch) in 1955. However, Harry Wallace also contin-ued to investigate the effects of environmental factors onhatching and infectivity of juveniles, including attractionto roots, particularly in Heterodera spp. and Ditylenchusdipsaci. For some of these studies he worked collaborativelywith Audrey Shepherd and Jack Hesling. At Rothamsted healso supervised Cliff Blake’s Ph.D. project on Ditylenchus.In 1960, he was awarded a D.Sc. from the University ofLiverpool.In 1962, Professor W.R. (Buddy) Rogers visited Roth-amsted and encouraged Harry Wallace to move to Australia.He arrived at the then new CSIRO Division of Horticulturein Adelaide, where Alan Bird was already employed, in1963. There as Chief Scientist he concentrated his effortson Meloidogyne javanica and continued his work on envi-ronmental factors affecting movement of infective juveniles,studying the development, hatching and survival of eggs.He also became interested in factors affecting reproductionof M. javanica, and the effects of the nematode on its hosts.Seymour Van Gundy (University of California, Riverside,CA, USA) spent a sabbatical with Harry Wallace andAlan Bird in 1966, and collaborated with them on astudyofageingandstarvationinjuvenilesofM.javanicaandTylenchulus semipenetrans .In 1971, Harry Wallace was appointed to the Chair ofPlant Pathology at the Waite Institute, The University ofAdelaide. Whilst this meant he had to make contributions toundergraduate teaching and an increased administrative load(and hence less personal time for research), it also meantthat he had Ph.D. students and that he could broaden hisresearch interests. He continued his work on root-knot nem-atode and its effects on photosynthesis and nutrient demandin host plants. One major study, with Brian Stynes, involvedthe use of a synoptic approach to assess the relative impor-tance of various environmental factors on the growth andyield of plants. With Frances Reay he investigated thesusceptibility to and effects of M. javanica on various nativeplants and investigated the biodiversity of nematodes asso-ciated with the Australian bush.