The Centre for Overseas Pest Research, like so much of Britain’s

non-university public science, was renamed, relocated and downsized, as if it had no relevance in a world which was actually crying out for its skills. But ever the field biologist and not the bureaucrat, Wood saw to it that termite work continued, personally leading projects in India, Nigeria, Mali, Sudan, Ethiopia, Zimbabwe and Cameroon. In these endeavours the training of indigenous specialists was always a strong element. The many aspiring soil biologists who benefitted from his supervision and leadership embody his legacy. He wanted to change people’s lives, and the more he knew Africa, the more he respected Selleckchem AZD2281 the intelligence and culture he found there. www.selleckchem.com/products/ABT-263.html Nor were the athletics neglected. Despite bouts of ill health, it was quite normal towards evening on any tropical field day to see him setting off on his daily run, a mere 10 km in the stifling heat, while back in Britain he routinely ran from his home

in Walton, Surrey to the Kensington office. Finally, in 1981 he completed the first London Marathon as his last competitive run at that distance. On retirement, declining health diminished the running, but his congeniality and love of a good story about the old days abroad never left him. His last professional posting, to Bunda College of Agriculture in Malawi, demonstrated his love of Africa and strong commitment to assisting its escape from poverty. Tom Wood is survived by first wife Margaret, second wife Genet and three sons. “
“Figure options Download full-size image Download as PowerPoint slide Professor Otto Graff was an outstanding and distinguished soil zoologist who significantly

contributed to soil science by his pioneer work on the functional role of earthworms in controlling soil processes. At the age of 96 years he passed away on 3 January 2014 in Braunschweig, Germany. He is survived by his wife Irmgard, two of three children, ten grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren. Otto Graff was born on 17 August 1917 in Berlin-Steglitz, Germany. After military service, he studied biology in Munich, Hamburg and Braunschweig and completed his PhD thesis on the importance of earthworms for agriculture in Carnitine dehydrogenase 1950. At that time, he already held a position as soil zoologist in the Institute of Humus Management (head Prof. Walter Sauerlandt) at the Federal Agricultural Research Centre (Forschungsanstalt für Landwirtschaft, FAL) in Braunschweig-Völkenrode, Germany (since 2008 Johann Heinrich von Thünen-Institute). It was the first position for soil zoology of agriculture and compost management in an agricultural research institute in Germany. In compliance with regulations of the Allied forces, the FAL was founded in 1947 to provide a scientific basis for tackling famine and malnutrition of the population after World War II.