Prof. Johan Harald Kylin - Scientist of the Week
Prof. Johan Harald Kylin (5 February 1879 – 16 December 1949) had remarkable versatility and made major biochemical and physiology discoveries on brown, green and red seaweeds; but know only for his contribution to red algal systematics. His undoubted scientific prowess was married to a firm belief in steady, hard work, an iron will, and a high level of personal organization.
Arctic phycologist F. R. Kjellman influenced him greatly at Uppsala and developed a life-long interest in marine algae. Although, he obtained employment as Conservator at the Botanical Museum of Uppsala, the time he spent during 1912-13 at the Leipzing laboratory of Wilhelm Pfeffer - which at that time was the Mecca of plant physiologists gave him great insights into physiology which he later used in marine algae - several of the aspects first time in the world. He has the Chair in anatomy and physiology at Lund in 1920 where he remained until his retirement in 1944. This gave him access to the extensive collection made by eminent father and son phycologists C. A. Agardh and J. G. Agardh. He then published monographs on red algae in 1944, brown in 1947, and green in 1948.
His taxonomic studies were not confined to his native flora, but he made repeated trips to carefully selected nodes of algal diversity around the world, these include Bergen in Norway; California and Friday Harbor in the US; Isle of Man, Roscoff, Guethary, and Banyuls-Sur-Mer in France and Naples in Italy. The painstakingly studied, critical assessment of family Delesseriaceae in the 1920s, and the Order Rhodymeniales and Gigartinales in the 1930s remained bible on red algal systematics for decades afterward. Kylin improved enormously on ordinal systems formulated by Oltmanns, Schmitz, and other previous researchers largely through detailed studies on extensive collections of fertile material around the world. His proposal of establishing the order Gelidiales has proved enduringly correct, despite much criticism by P. S. Dixon and others. The order remains valid to date.
His published accounts were precise, carefully written in an almost telegraphic language with clear semi-diagrammatic illustrations. Besides taxonomy, he worked on several areas which were not known before, e.g. he was first to prepare pure solutions of phycoerythrin and phycocyanin from red algae Ceramium rubrum. He also showed that Florideophyceae algae contain two different types of phycoerythrin. He also studied storage products of photosynthesis such as Floridian starch, which were then shown to have taxonomic consequences.
He made seminal contributions in the field of nutritional requirements of seaweed, life-history, cytology but much was not known to traditional phycologists today. He left behind a large legacy in the form of his doctoral students, many of whom were world-famous phycologist themselves, e.g. L G Sjostedt, C. Bliding, T. Rosenberg, S. Wiedling, S. Algeus, and T Levering. Together with numerous species, four algal genera are named after him Kylinia, Kyliniella, Haraldiophyllum, and Haraldia. His work remains an inspiration to phycologists worldwide even today.
Data compiled by: Dr. Vaibhav A. Mantri, Principal Scientist & Divisional Chair, CSIR-CSMCRI, Bhavnagar, Gujarat, India.
Source Credit: "Prominent Phycologists of the 20th Century" by David J Garbary and Michael J. Wynne (Eds)
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