Ebenezer Laing, (28 June 1931 – 19 April 2015) was a

Ghanaian The Ghanaian people are a nation originating in the Gold Coast (region), Ghanaian Gold Coast. Ghanaians predominantly inhabit the Republic of Ghana and are the predominant cultural group and residents of Ghana, numbering 34 million people as of ...

botanist 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 ...

and

geneticist A geneticist is a biologist or physician who studies genetics, the science of genes, heredity, and variation of organisms. A geneticist can be employed as a scientist or a lecturer. Geneticists may perform general research on genetic process ...

who served as the Pro-Vice Chancellor of the

University of Ghana The University of Ghana is a public university located in Accra, Ghana. It is the oldest public university in the country. The university was founded in 1948 as the University College of the Gold Coast in the British colony of the Gold Coast ...

Legon Legon , a suburb of the Ghanaian city Accra, is situated about north-east of the city center in the Ayawaso West Municipal District, a district in the Greater Accra Region of Ghana. Legon is home to the main campus of the University of Ghana. ...

. He was a

professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other tertiary education, post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin ...

at the University of Ghana,

, and later an emeritus professor. Laing, together with his university and faculty colleague,

George C. Clerk George Carver Clerk, (29 July 1931 – 2 May 2019) was a Ghanaian people, Ghanaian Botany, botanist and Plant pathology, plant pathologist. A professor and later, an emeritus professor at the University of Ghana, Legon, he also focused his res ...

(1931–2019), was one of the first Ghanaian academics to specialise in botany as a scientific discipline and contributed significantly to the growth of the field in Ghana. He was also a

Fellow A fellow is a title and form of address for distinguished, learned, or skilled individuals in academia, medicine, research, and industry. The exact meaning of the term differs in each field. In learned society, learned or professional society, p ...

of the

Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences The Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences (GAAS) is a learned society for the arts and sciences based in Accra, Ghana. The institution was founded in November 1959 by Kwame Nkrumah with the aim to promote the pursuit, advancement and dissemination ...

, inducted in 1965. In 1985, he was elected an inaugural Fellow of the African Academy of Sciences.

Early life and education

Ebenezer Laing was born in

Cape Coast Cape Coast is a city and the capital of the Cape Coast Metropolitan Assembly, Cape Coast Metropolitan District and the Central Region (Ghana), Central Region of Ghana, Ghana. It is located about from Sekondi-Takoradi and approximately from Ac ...

in the Central Region of Ghana on 28 June 1931. He was educated at the all-boys’

Anglican Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...

boarding school, Adisadel College and continued at

Achimota School Achimota School (Help:IPA/English, /ɑːtʃimoʊtɑː/ ), formerly Prince of Wales College and School at Achimota, later Achimota College, now nicknamed Motown, is a co-educational boarding school located at Achimota in Accra, Greater Accra Reg ...

for

sixth form In the education systems of Barbados, England, Jamaica, Northern Ireland, Trinidad and Tobago, Wales, and some other Commonwealth countries, sixth form represents the final two years of secondary education, ages 16 to 18. Pupils typically prepa ...

. Between 1951 and 1954, he attended the University College of the Gold Coast, then an external affiliate of the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a collegiate university, federal Public university, public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The ...

and obtained a

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Medieval Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six years ...

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 ...

with

first-class honours The British undergraduate degree classification system is a grading structure used for undergraduate degrees or bachelor's degrees and integrated master's degrees in the United Kingdom. The system has been applied, sometimes with significant var ...

. He was the recipient of the ''Basindale Prize'' for ranking second in his class. He proceeded to Corpus Christi College, a constituent college of the

University of Cambridge The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

where from 1954 to 1958, he earned a doctoral degree in

Genetics Genetics is the study of genes, genetic variation, and heredity in organisms.Hartl D, Jones E (2005) It is an important branch in biology because heredity is vital to organisms' evolution. Gregor Mendel, a Moravian Augustinians, Augustinian ...

as a student of Sir

Ronald Fisher Sir Ronald Aylmer Fisher (17 February 1890 – 29 July 1962) was a British polymath who was active as a mathematician, statistician, biologist, geneticist, and academic. For his work in statistics, he has been described as "a genius who a ...

Career

Ebenezer Laing was appointed a lecturer at the

’s botany department and rose through the ranks to become a

full professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an academic rank at universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a 'person who professes'. Professors ...

. He later became the chairman of the

department. His research was in plant genetics. He also served as the Hall Master of Legon Hall, of which he was an alumnus. Other senior administrative positions he held include the Dean of the Faculty of Science and the Pro-Vice Chancellor of the university. He was also an external examiner at other universities on the African continent. During his long teaching career, he had courtesy appointments at various departments at the

including the Institute of African Studies, the Regional Institute for Population Studies, Department of Geography, Psychology Department, Department of

Community Health Community health refers to non-treatment based health services that are delivered outside Hospital, hospitals and Clinic, clinics. Community health is a subset of public health that is taught to and practiced by Clinician, clinicians as part of th ...

at UGMS, Korle-Bu, School of Public Health as well as the Legon Centre for International Affairs and Diplomacy (LECIAD). He was also a

board member A board of directors is a governing body that supervises the activities of a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government agency. The powers, duties, and responsibilities of a board of directors are determined by government regulations ...

advisor An adviser or advisor is normally a person with more and deeper knowledge in a specific area and usually also includes persons with cross-functional and multidisciplinary expertise. An adviser's role is that of a mentor or guide and differs catego ...

consultant A consultant (from "to deliberate") is a professional (also known as ''expert'', ''specialist'', see variations of meaning below) who provides advice or services in an area of specialization (generally to medium or large-size corporations). Cons ...

to several institutions: the

Ghana Atomic Energy Commission The Ghana Atomic Energy Commission (GAEC) is the state organization in Ghana involved with surveillance of the use of nuclear energy in Ghana. It is similar in aim to the Ghana Nuclear Society (GNS), with the difference being that the GNS is a ...

where he was elected a

in 1965, the

Council for Scientific and Industrial Research A council is a group of people who come together to consult, deliberate, or make decisions. A council may function as a legislature, especially at a town, city or county/shire level, but most legislative bodies at the state/provincial or nati ...

(CSIR), Cocoa Research Institute, the Volta Basin Research Project and the Population Dynamics Program at the

. He was also a Founding

of the African Academy of Sciences, elected in 1985. He also provided advisory services to the development of new

higher education Tertiary education (higher education, or post-secondary education) is the educational level following the completion of secondary education. The World Bank defines tertiary education as including universities, colleges, and vocational schools ...

initiatives in both the public and private sector in

Ghana Ghana, officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It is situated along the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, and shares borders with Côte d’Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, and Togo to t ...

. These include the

University for Development Studies The University for Development Studies, Tamale, Ghana, Tamale was established in 1992 as a multi-campus institution. It is the fifth public university to be established in Ghana. This deviates from the usual practice of having universities with c ...

, the Presbyterian University College and the Anglican University College of Technology. He was engaged in international work, among other designations as a member of the joint

WHO The World Health Organization (WHO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations which coordinates responses to international public health issues and emergencies. It is headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, and has 6 regional offices and 15 ...

FAO The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations; . (FAO) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations that leads international efforts to defeat hunger and improve nutrition ...

UNEP The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) is responsible for coordinating responses to environmental issues within the United Nations system. It was established by Maurice Strong, its first director, after the Declaration of the United Nati ...

Panel of Experts on Environmental Management for Vector Control (PEEM) between 1981 and 1995. He co-chaired the ninth PEEM meeting at the World Health Organization in 1989, and was the national counterpart for the organization of the 1992 three-week Health Impact Assessment training course "Health Opportunities in Water Resources Development", held in Akosombo, Ghana.

Personal life

He was married to Mildred Laing and had three children. He was an

amateur photographer ''Amateur Photographer'' is a British photography magazine, published weekly by Kelsey Media. The magazine provides articles on equipment reviews, photographic technique, and profiles of professional photographers. About the magazine ''Ama ...

and a trained concert pianist with special interest in

classical music Classical music generally refers to the art music of the Western world, considered to be #Relationship to other music traditions, distinct from Western folk music or popular music traditions. It is sometimes distinguished as Western classical mu ...

from the

Baroque The Baroque ( , , ) is a Western Style (visual arts), style of Baroque architecture, architecture, Baroque music, music, Baroque dance, dance, Baroque painting, painting, Baroque sculpture, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from ...

and Romantic periods. An aficionado of Ghanaian music, he also played the

classical guitar The classical guitar, also known as Spanish guitar, is a member of the guitar family used in classical music and other styles. An acoustic wooden string (music), string instrument with strings made of catgut, gut or nylon, it is a precursor of the ...

and the

Oboe The oboe ( ) is a type of double-reed woodwind instrument. Oboes are usually made of wood, but may also be made of synthetic materials, such as plastic, resin, or hybrid composites. The most common type of oboe, the soprano oboe pitched in C, ...

. Laing was also an accomplished

organist An organist is a musician who plays any type of organ (music), organ. An organist may play organ repertoire, solo organ works, play with an musical ensemble, ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers or instrumentalist, instrumental ...

for the ''Christ Anglican Church'', ''Legon''. Laing played

tennis Tennis is a List of racket sports, racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles (tennis), singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles (tennis), doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket st ...

and was a technology-savvy biologist, taking up

computer programming Computer programming or coding is the composition of sequences of instructions, called computer program, programs, that computers can follow to perform tasks. It involves designing and implementing algorithms, step-by-step specifications of proc ...

in his old age as a hobby.

Death and legacy

He died in

Accra Accra (; or ''Gaga''; ; Ewe: Gɛ; ) is the capital and largest city of Ghana, located on the southern coast at the Gulf of Guinea, which is part of the Atlantic Ocean. As of 2021 census, the Accra Metropolitan District, , had a population of ...

on 19 April 2015 from

natural causes In many legal jurisdictions, the manner of death is a determination, typically made by the coroner, medical examiner, police, or similar officials, and recorded as a vital statistic. Within the United States and the United Kingdom, a distinc ...

. He was buried at the Osu Cemetery (previously known as Christiansborg Civil Cemetery) in

. The road behind the university’s department of botany was named in his honour.

Awards and honours

* Honorary

Doctor of Science A Doctor of Science (; most commonly abbreviated DSc or ScD) is a science doctorate awarded in a number of countries throughout the world. Africa Algeria and Morocco In Algeria, Morocco, Libya and Tunisia, all universities accredited by the s ...

(D. Sc.),

* Officer of the Order of the Volta,

Government of Ghana The Government of Ghana was created as a parliamentary democracy, followed by alternating military and civilian governments in Ghana. In January 1993, military government gave way to the Fourth Republic after presidential and parliamentary elect ...

Gold Medal A gold medal is a medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture. Since the eighteenth century, gold medals have b ...

, Distinguished Alumnus of Legon Hall * Adisadel College Centenary Award - Distinguished Old Boy

Books

* An introduction to modern genetics (1971) *Genetic Demonstrations: Instructor's Manual (1980); co-authored with Marian Ewurama Addy and Carol Markwei * A Geneticist's Apology: Thoughts on Genetics Teaching and Research (1985) * The Council for Scientific and Industrial Research retrospect and prospects (1988) * The New Biology: New Hope, New Threat Or New Dilemmas (1989) * Science and society in Ghana (1990)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Laing, Ebenezer 1931 births 20th-century Ghanaian botanists Akan people Fante people Ghanaian Anglicans Alumni of Achimota School Alumni of Adisadel College Alumni of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge Alumni of the University of London University of Ghana alumni Academic staff of the University of Ghana 2015 deaths Ghanaian geneticists Fellows of the Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences Founder fellows of the African Academy of Sciences