Peter Stanley Dixon
Peter Stanley Dixon was born in Redcar, England on 29 November 1928. He was the only child of William Stanley and Nellie Dixon. He came from a poor family and completed his entire education with the help of various scholarships. He continued his education at the University of Manchester from where he received a B.Sc., M.Sc., and Ph.D. Here he developed a strong foundation in what was then widely referred to as cryptogamic botany. However, upon completing his B.Sc., he turned his attention towards a group of organisms (Red Algae), that would dominate the rest of his life. His MSc thesis was on cytology and reproduction in freshwater red alga Lemanea. This has set the stage for further graduate work under the able mentorship of Kathleen M. Drew-Baker. He chooses to work on Gelidium and its relatives, a red algal group notorious for its taxonomic difficulty.
In 1954 he began his academic career by assuming the position of Assistant Lecturer at the Hartley Botanical Laboratories of the University of Liverpool. when he was here he made good use of rail connections for frequent visits to the British Museum of Natural History and other sites of Phycological literature and herbaria, where he spent long hours reading, transcribing passages by hand, and studying and taking notes on important algal specimens. Through this hard work and diligence, he became an expert of phycological history and nomenclature, a skill for which he would be widely recognized throughout his career. Peter published a monumental book entitled "Biology of Rhodophyta" in 1973 and published with Mary Parke "Checklist of British Marine Algae- third revision" in 1976, which was honored in 1986 as Current Contents - Citation Classic, having been cited at that time in over 225 other publications, a big accomplishment in the ear where the electronic way of communication and obtaining references was absent.
In 1977, he co-authored the first contribution in the landmark series "Seaweeds of the British Isles" which includes a 65-page introductory review of red algal biology.
Despite his hefty research agenda, he proved to be an informed, versatile and dynamic teacher. He stimulated many students to take phycology as their career. Although, clearly classical algal systematics in many ways his work was transitional between "old" and "new" Phycology. His ideas had branches that extended into realms of ecology, developmental morphology, and biogeography. Two such themes that became important parts of his research were (i) morphological plasticity and the causes of form variation in the florideophyte red algae, (ii) red algal reproduction and life histories with particular emphasis on patterns occurring in the field and the importance of perennation and vegetative propagation.
Peter was suffering from the progressive symptoms of multiple sclerosis, long before retirement. Consequently, he experienced increasing difficulty in writing, reading, and doing research. His last published work was 148 pages review on his most favored subject: the biology of red algae in 1992. He died on June 30, 1993.
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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Great to know about him... Thanks for sharing...
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