The Icelandic Canadian - 01.06.1956, Page 50

48
THE ICELANDIC CANADIAN
Summer 1956
Research Professors in Biosystematics
Dr. Askell Love
The noted botanists, Dr. Askell Love
and his wife, Dr. Doris Love joined
the staff of the university of Mani-
toba in 1951, he as an associate prof-
essor of botany, she as a curator of
the botanical collection. Their emin-
ence in the botanical field has now
been recognized; they have accepted
an invitation to become research pro-
fessors in Biosystematics at the large
Institut Botanique of the French Uni-
versity de Montreal, which is situated
in the famous Montreal Botanical
Garden.
The biosystematics project, the first
of its kind in Canada and the second
in North America, is supported joint-
ly by the University and by the Na-
tional Research Council. It continues
and enlarges the investigations and re-
search Drs. Love have been working
on since 1939, first in Sweden, then
in Iceland, and later in Manitoba.
Biosystematics is a new branch of
science studying evolution from tl;e
Dr. Doris Love
viewpoint of taxonomy, ecology and
cytogenetics. It started with some
experiments in France at the begin-
ning of the century, when Dr. C.
Bonnier transplanted some lowland
plants to alpine localities, and vice
versa. A quarter of a century ago the
Swedish geneticist Dr. G. Turesson
added these experiments to the meth-
ods of genetics and between 1930 and
1940 they were expanded very much
by the California team of Drs. I Claus-
en, D. D. Kech and W. Hiesey. Drs.
Love added to these investigations the
methods of pure cytology, and have
made serveral contributions to this
new science, published in a number
of scientific papers. More than twenty
of these papers are based on work per-
formed in Manitoba since 1951.
The biosystematics team in Montreal
includes some other scientists and
graduate students. Although the work