Thomas ap Rees

Thomas ap Rees (19 October 1930 – 3 October 1996) was a botanist. He was Professor of Botany in the Department of Plant Sciences at the University of Cambridge between 1991 and 1996[3] when he has killed in a road accident whilst cycling home.

Thomas ap Rees
Born(1930-10-19)October 19, 1930
Frome, Somerset
DiedOctober 3, 1996(1996-10-03) (aged 65)
Alma materUniversity of Oxford (DPhil)
Scientific career
FieldsBiochemistry[1]
Institutions
ThesisThe Effect of fungal infection upon the respoiratory metabolism of plant tissues (1957)
Doctoral advisorJack Harley[2]

Education and early life

He was born in Frome, Somerset and attended Llandovery College, Dyfed and served two years military service in the Royal Corps of Signals before studying botany at Lincoln College, Oxford gaining a Doctor of Philosophy degree in 1957 for research supervised by Jack Harley.[2]

Research and career

He lived in Sydney, Australia for a number of years as a lecturer in botany at the University of Sydney and in 1961 he was appointed as Senior Research Officer of the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation. He returned to Britain in 1964 on being appointed a lecturer at the University of Cambridge.[4]

Ap Rees' contribution to plant biochemistry was substantial.[1] He published over 100 research papers and more than 20 reviews during his career.[4] Over 170 scientists attended a meeting held after his death in honour of him and his work. His main area of research was in the regulation and control of plant metabolism. He argued that sucrose played a central role in plant metabolism. Much of his research was on non-crop species as he believed that there may be metabolic features present in these that could be bred into crop plants. Fellow scientists admired him for his sound approach to research.[5]

References
  1. Stitt, Mark; Bulpin, Paul V.; Ap Rees, T. (1978). "Pathway of starch breakdown in photosynthetic tissues of Pisum sativum". Biochimica et Biophysica Acta (BBA) - General Subjects. 544 (1): 200–214. doi:10.1016/0304-4165(78)90223-4. ISSN 0304-4165. PMID 152656.
  2. ap Rees, Thomas (1957). The Effect of fungal infection upon the respoiratory metabolism of plant tissues (DPhil thesis). University of Oxford.
  3. "ap REES, Prof. Thomas". Who's Who. ukwhoswho.com. 1996 (online Oxford University Press ed.). A & C Black, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing plc. (subscription or UK public library membership required) (subscription required)
  4. David Summers, Ed Tanner and Tony Kirby (10 October 1996). "Obituary: Professor Thomas ap Rees". The Independent.
  5. Hill, S. (1998). "Carbohydrate metabolism in plants". Trends in Plant Science. 3 (10): 370–371. doi:10.1016/S1360-1385(98)01320-X.
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