Howard Thomas (scientist)
British academic plant scientist
Howard Sidney (Sid) Thomas, FWIF, FLSW (1948 - 2022) was a plant scientist at the Welsh Plant Breeding Station and later the University of Aberystwyth, and also a jazz musician and composer. He became emeritus Professor of Biological, Environmental and Rural Sciences, University of Aberystwyth.
Career
Thomas studied at University of Aberystwyth and was later awarded the DSc degree by the same university. He started his career in the 1960s at the Welsh Plant Breeding Station in Aberystwyth, Wales. He worked on breeding improved varieties of forage grasses and grains, including oats and barley. He made use of cytogenetic methods. He also investigated how grass leaves yellowed and died, since prolonging active green leaves would improve their value as forage. He collaborated with other researchers to bring new technologies into the studies. His work moved into research on photosynthesis, effects of temperature on grasses and also developing an understanding of the differences in biochemistry and lipid metabolism as leaves died. This work made a substantial contribution to the understanding of the catabolism of chloroplasts and chlorophylls.
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This entry incorporates text from “Howard Thomas (scientist)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.