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Fields: | organic chemistry lichenology taxonomy, plant physiology |
Suppressfields: | occupation |
John Alan (Jack) Elix (born 1941)[1] emeritus professor in chemistry at the Australian National University,[2] [3] is an organic chemist who has contributed in many fields: lichenology, lichen chemotaxonomy, plant physiology and biodiversity and natural product chemistry. He has authored 2282 species names,[4] and 67 genera[5] in the field of mycology. Elix edited the exsiccata series Lichenes Australasici exsiccati.[6]
His first degree, B.Sc., and his Ph.D. were both in organic chemistry from the University of Adelaide. This was followed by post-doctoral years at the University of Cambridge and then a D.Sc. in natural products chemistry from the Australian National University.[7]
Elix spent a post doctoral year in 1966 at Cambridge, returning to Australia in 1967 to a lectureship in chemistry at the ANU.[1] He retired as professor of chemistry in 2002,[1] becoming professor emeritus.[3]
By 1975 he had already published several papers on the organic chemistry of lichens, and ultimately leading to work on the evolution, taxonomy and phylogeny of lichens.[8] For his work on lichens, Elix was awarded the Acharius Medal in 2004 and the Nancy T Burbidge Medal in 2015. He is a prolific author (or coauthor) of new fungal and lichen species, having formally described about 1147 as of December 2017.[9]
He was honoured in 1997, when lichenologist Helge Thorsten Lumbsch published Elixiaceae which is a family of fungi in the order Umbilicariales. It contains two genera, Meridianelia, and the type genus, Elixia, which is named after John Alan Elix.[10]
He was also honoured again in 2004, with Melanelixia, which is a genus of foliose lichens in the family Parmeliaceae,[11] and in 2016 with Astrothelium elixii, a rare bark-dwelling Bolivian lichen.[12]