Sir Leslie Fowden. 13 October 1925—16 December 2008

Professor Sir Leslie Fowden was an organic chemist and one of the most influential plant scientists of his generation. He pioneered the new field of phytochemistry and was the world authority on plant amino acids. He was distinguished for the identification, characterization and biological function of a new category of nitrogen containing molecules in plants, the non-protein amino acids. During his research career, he isolated at least 50 of these compounds from a wide range of different plant genera and established their structural diversity, metabolic and toxic functions, and their scientific significance. In achieving this, he developed novel techniques for the rapid, quantitative separation of compounds by chromatography and electrophoresis, which were widely adopted in other disciplines. As Director of Rothamsted Experimental Station, he opened up new areas of research in plant biochemistry and molecular biology, and became an effective voice for the importance of agricultural research in the UK. He provided strategic leadership in the translational application of plant biochemistry to the agrichemical industry and to global crop resistance and production. His discoveries established the complexity and central role of plant nitrogen metabolism in plant growth and laid the foundations for current research in plant sciences aimed at improving both food security and the nutritional value of plants.

John Ashworth Nelder. 8 October 1924—7 August 2010

John Nelder was a statistician who made important contributions to applied statistical theory, of which three are notable: his work on general balance; his influential collaboration with Robert Wedderburn and later Peter McCullagh on the development of generalized linear models (GLMs); and his post-retirement collaboration with Youngjo Lee on hierarchical generalized linear models (HGLMs). John started his career at the National Vegetable Research Station in Wellesbourne in 1950, and was subsequently head of statistics at Rothamsted Experimental Station, Harpenden, from 1968 to his retirement in 1984, during which time he regularly gave a course of lectures on statistical computing at Imperial College London. He wrote several highly influential books and received many honours, including the Guy Medals in Silver and in Gold of the Royal Statistical Society (in 1977 and 2005) and an honorary doctorate from the Université Paul Sabatier, Toulouse, in 1981. His work on GLMs completely changed the world of statistical modelling, his theory of general balance was years ahead of its time and it is perhaps too early to judge his work on HGLMs. The simplex algorithm for function optimization developed with Roger Mead has proved extremely popular. John was an excellent pianist with a wide range of musical interests.

Henry Robert Wallace 1924 - 2011

Harry Wallace was born in Lancashire, England on 12 September 1924 and died at Murray Bridge, South Australia on 26 July 2011. He had a distinguished career, as a scientist at the University of Cambridge, Rothamsted Experimental Station and CSIRO's Division of Horticulture, and as Professor of Plant Pathology at the University of Adelaide. He was internationally recognised for his pioneering work on the movement of nematodes and for his work on the interactions between nematodes, the environment and the plant. He made a major contribution to Australian agriculture by providing a blueprint for research needed to understand cereal cyst nematode, which was a major pest that significantly reduced yield. The blueprint led to efficient methods of disease control.