David Graham Lloyd (20 June 1937 – 30 May 2006) was an evolutionary biologist and the seventh New Zealander to be elected as a fellow of the

Royal Society The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...

in London. He did pioneering work in the field of

plant reproduction Plants may reproduce sexually or asexually. Sexual reproduction produces offspring by the fusion of gametes, resulting in offspring genetically different from either parent. Vegetative reproduction produces new individuals without the fusion o ...

. In December 1992, Lloyd fell victim to an apparent poisoning by

acrylamide Acrylamide (or acrylic amide) is an organic compound with the chemical formula CH2=CHC(O)NH2. It is a white odorless solid, soluble in water and several organic solvents. From the chemistry perspective, acrylamide is a vinyl-substituted primary ...

, a common laboratory chemical. As a result, he lay in a

coma A coma is a deep state of prolonged unconsciousness in which a person cannot be awakened, fails to Nociception, respond normally to Pain, painful stimuli, light, or sound, lacks a normal Circadian rhythm, sleep-wake cycle and does not initiate ...

for three months and was left blind, mute, and

quadriplegic Tetraplegia, also known as quadriplegia, is defined as the dysfunction or loss of Motor control, motor and/or Sense, sensory function in the Cervical vertebrae, cervical area of the spinal cord. A loss of motor function can present as either weak ...

. His former partner and fellow molecular biologist Vicky Calder was tried twice for his attempted murder. The first trial ended with a

hung jury A hung jury, also called a deadlocked jury, is a judicial jury that cannot agree upon a verdict after extended deliberation and is unable to reach the required unanimity or supermajority. A hung jury may result in the case being tried again. Thi ...

and the second

acquitted In common law jurisdictions, an acquittal means that the criminal prosecution has failed to prove that the accused is guilty beyond a reasonable doubt of the charge presented. It certifies that the accused is free from the charge of an o ...

her.Jury Acquits Woman Accused of Poisoning Scientist Boyfriend
AP News Archive, 19 April 1996

Research

Lloyd's major contribution to

botany Botany, also called plant science, is the branch of natural science and biology studying plants, especially Plant anatomy, their anatomy, Plant taxonomy, taxonomy, and Plant ecology, ecology. A botanist or plant scientist is a scientist who s ...

was in the field of

. His contributions to the field include a mechanistic treatment of different modes of

self-pollination Self-pollination is a form of pollination in which pollen arrives at the stigma of a flower (in flowering plants) or at the ovule (in gymnosperms) of the same plant. The term cross-pollination is used for the opposite case, where pollen from ...

in hermaphroditic plants, a genetically defined continuum of plant gender, early development of theory of the evolution of separate sexes in plants, and with C.J. Webb, a challenge to conventional views of the evolution of

heterostyly Heterostyly is a unique form of polymorphism and herkogamy in flowers. In a heterostylous species, two or three morphological types of flowers, termed "morphs", exist in the population. On each individual plant, all flowers share the same morph ...

. Because of his ideas and work on population biology of plants, he is sometimes referred to as the "

W.D. Hamilton William Donald Hamilton (1 August 1936 – 7 March 2000) was a British evolutionary biologist, recognised as one of the most significant evolutionary theorists of the 20th century. Hamilton became known for his theoretical work expounding a ...

in plant biology".

References

External links

New Zealand Herald obituaryAcrylamide poisoning trialLloyd's 1980 publication: A quantitative method for describing the gender of plants
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lloyd, David 1937 births 2006 deaths New Zealand blind people 20th-century New Zealand botanists New Zealand fellows of the Royal Society New Zealand victims of crime People with tetraplegia Scientists with disabilities Evolutionary biologists