John Alan (Jack) Elix (born 1941) emeritus professor in chemistry at the

Australian National University The Australian National University (ANU) is a public university, public research university and member of the Group of Eight (Australian universities), Group of Eight, located in Canberra, the capital of Australia. Its main campus in Acton, A ...

, 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, and 67 genera in the field of

mycology Mycology is the branch of biology concerned with the study of fungus, fungi, including their Taxonomy (biology), taxonomy, genetics, biochemistry, biochemical properties, and ethnomycology, use by humans. Fungi can be a source of tinder, Edible ...

. Elix edited the

exsiccata Exsiccata (Latin, ''gen.'' -ae, ''plur.'' -ae) is a work with "published, uniform, numbered set of preserved specimens distributed with printed labels". Typically, exsiccatae are numbered collections of dried herbarium Biological specimen, spe ...

series ''Lichenes Australasici exsiccati.''

Education

His first degree, B.Sc., and his Ph.D. were both in organic chemistry from the

University of Adelaide The University of Adelaide is a public university, public research university based in Adelaide, South Australia. Established in 1874, it is the third-oldest university in Australia. Its main campus in the Adelaide city centre includes many Sa ...

. This was followed by post-doctoral years at 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 ...

and then a D.Sc. in natural products chemistry from the

Career

Elix spent a post doctoral year in 1966 at Cambridge, returning to Australia in 1967 to a lectureship in chemistry at the ANU. He retired as professor of chemistry in 2002, becoming professor emeritus. 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. 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. He was honoured in 1997, when lichenologist Helge Thorsten Lumbsch published '' Elixiaceae'' which is a

family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

fungi A fungus (: fungi , , , or ; or funguses) is any member of the group of eukaryotic organisms that includes microorganisms such as yeasts and mold (fungus), molds, as well as the more familiar mushrooms. These organisms are classified as one ...

in the order Umbilicariales. It contains two genera, '' Meridianelia'', and the

type genus In biological taxonomy, the type genus (''genus typica'') is the genus which defines a biological family and the root of the family name. Zoological nomenclature According to the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature, "The name-bearin ...

, '' Elixia'', which is named after John Alan Elix. He was also honoured again in 2004, with '' Melanelixia'', which is a

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

of foliose lichens in the family Parmeliaceae, and in 2016 with '' Astrothelium elixii'', a rare bark-dwelling Bolivian lichen.

Education

Career

Selected publications

See also

References

Further reading