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Nicholas Farrar Hughes (January 17, 1962 – March 16, 2009) was a British and American fisheries biologist known as an expert in stream
salmonid Salmonidae (, ) is a family of ray-finned fish, the only extant member of the suborder Salmonoidei, consisting of 11 extant genera and over 200 species collectively known as "salmonids" or "salmonoids". The family includes salmon (both Atlantic a ...
ecology."Remembering Dr. Nicholas Hughes, January 17, 1962 - March 16, 2009"
. School of Fisheries & Ocean Sciences, University of Alaska Fairbanks. Accessed March 23, 2009.
Hughes was the son of the American poet
Sylvia Plath Sylvia Plath (; October 27, 1932 – February 11, 1963) was an American poet and author. She is credited with advancing the genre of confessional poetry and is best known for '' The Colossus and Other Poems'' (1960), '' Ariel'' (1965), a ...
and English poet
Ted Hughes Edward James Hughes (17 August 1930 – 28 October 1998) was an English poet, translator, and children's writer. Critics frequently rank him as one of the best poets of his generation and one of the twentieth century's greatest writers. He wa ...
, and the younger brother of artist and poet Frieda Hughes. He and his sister were public figures as small children due to the circumstances of their mother's widely publicized death by
suicide Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Risk factors for suicide include mental disorders, physical disorders, and substance abuse. Some suicides are impulsive acts driven by stress (such as from financial or ac ...
.


Early life

Nicholas was born in
North Tawton North Tawton is a small town in Devon, England, situated on the river Taw. It is administered by West Devon Council. The population of the electoral ward at the census 2011 was 2,026. History Romans crossed the River Taw at what is now Newla ...
, Devon, England in 1962. Through his father's mother, Hughes was related to Nicholas Ferrar (1592–1637). After her son was born, Plath wrote most of the poems that would comprise her most famous collection of poems (the posthumously published ''
Ariel Ariel may refer to: Film and television *Ariel Award, a Mexican Academy of Film award * ''Ariel'' (film), a 1988 Finnish film by Aki Kaurismäki *, a Russian film directed by Yevgeni Kotov * ''ARIEL Visual'' and ''ARIEL Deluxe'', a 1989 and 1991 ...
''), and published her semi-autobiographical novel about
mental illness A mental disorder, also referred to as a mental illness, a mental health condition, or a psychiatric disability, is a behavioral or mental pattern that causes significant distress or impairment of personal functioning. A mental disorder is ...
, '' The Bell Jar''. In the summer of 1962, Ted Hughes began an affair with Assia Wevill; Hughes and Plath separated in the autumn of 1962. On February 11, 1963, while Nicholas, age one, and his sister Frieda, two and a half, slept upstairs, Plath taped shut the doorframe of the room in which the children slept, then placed towels around the kitchen door to make sure fumes could not escape to harm the children, and died by
suicide Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Risk factors for suicide include mental disorders, physical disorders, and substance abuse. Some suicides are impulsive acts driven by stress (such as from financial or ac ...
using the toxic gas from the kitchen oven. Plath addressed one of her last poems, "Nick and the Candlestick", to her son:
O love, how did you get here? O embryo Remembering, even in sleep Your crossed position. The blood blooms clean In you, ruby. The pain You wake to is not yours.
After their mother Sylvia Plath's 1963 suicide, their father Ted Hughes installed his current lover Assia Wevill in the family home to take care of his & Plath's two children, Frieda & Nicholas. In 1969, Assia Wevill also died by suicide after killing her 4-year-old child by Hughes. In 1970, Ted Hughes married his long-time lover Carol Orchard, and the children continued their life on the family farm in Devon.Mendick, Robert. (2009--3-23)
"History repeats as Sylvia Plath’s son kills himself."
''Evening Standard'' (London, UK).
Evening Standard. (March 23, 2009)
"Ted Hughes' son found hanged."
''Evening Standard'' (London, UK).
Despite the posthumous fame of Sylvia Plath, and the growing literary and biographical writings about her death, Nicholas was not told about the circumstances of his mother's suicide until the 1970s. In 1998, Ted Hughes published '' Birthday Letters'', over 30 years of poems about Plath, which he dedicated to his two children. In the poem "Life After Death", Hughes recounts how:
Your son's eyes.... would become So perfectly your eyes, Became wet jewels The hardest substance of the purest pain As I fed him in his high white chair.


Professional career

Hughes was passionate about wildlife, especially fish. He attended
Oxford University The University of Oxford is a collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the second-oldest continuously operating u ...
, receiving a BA degree in
zoology Zoology ( , ) is the scientific study of animals. Its studies include the anatomy, structure, embryology, Biological classification, classification, Ethology, habits, and distribution of all animals, both living and extinction, extinct, and ...
in 1984. From 1984 to 1991, he worked in
Fairbanks, Alaska Fairbanks is a Municipal home rule, home rule city and the county seat, borough seat of the Fairbanks North Star Borough, Alaska, United States. Fairbanks is the largest city in the Interior Alaska, interior region of Alaska and the second la ...
as a research assistant at the Alaska Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit, part of the Biological Resources Division of the United States Geological Survey, and from 1990 to 1991, he was a student intern with the Sportfish Division of the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. In 1991, he earned a Ph.D. in biology from
University of Alaska Fairbanks The University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF or Alaska) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-, National Sea Grant College Program, sea-, and National Space Grant College and Fellowship Program, space-grant research university in ...
(UAF). After receiving his doctorate, Hughes held positions of increasing responsibility, instructing at UAF's School of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences in 1991–1992 and working as a research associate with UAF's
Institute of Arctic Biology The Institute of Arctic Biology or IAB of the University of Alaska Fairbanks, is located in Fairbanks, Alaska, US. The institute was established in 1963 by the Board of Regents of the University of Alaska, with Laurence Irving serving as its found ...
from 1992 to 1998. He held a post-doctoral fellowship from 1993 to 1995 with the Behavioral Ecology Research Group at
Simon Fraser University Simon Fraser University (SFU) is a Public university, public research university in British Columbia, Canada. It maintains three campuses in Greater Vancouver, respectively located in Burnaby (main campus), Surrey, British Columbia, Surrey, and ...
in
Burnaby Burnaby is a city in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia, Canada. Located in the centre of the Burrard Peninsula, it neighbours the City of Vancouver to the west, the District of North Vancouver across the confluence of the Burrard In ...
,
British Columbia British Columbia is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Situated in the Pacific Northwest between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains, the province has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that ...
and was a research associate there from 1995 to 1998. In September 1998, he became an assistant professor in the School of Fisheries and Ocean Science at UAF. Hughes studied stream salmonid ecology and conducted research both in the Alaska Interior and in
New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...
. He was a member of the American Fisheries Society. During his scientific career, Hughes advanced the field of stream ecology as a prominent Alaskan biologist. According to Fairbanks reporter Dermot Cole: Hughes resigned from his faculty position at UAF in December 2006, but continued his scientific research of king salmon until his death.Italie, Hillel. (March 23, 2009)
"Poet Sylvia Plath's son, a prominent Fairbanks biologist, takes own life."
Associated Press. ''Fairbanks Daily News-Miner''.


Death

On March 16, 2009, Hughes died by suicide in his home in
Fairbanks, Alaska Fairbanks is a Municipal home rule, home rule city and the county seat, borough seat of the Fairbanks North Star Borough, Alaska, United States. Fairbanks is the largest city in the Interior Alaska, interior region of Alaska and the second la ...
. According to his sister Frieda and his UAF colleagues, he had long battled depression.


References


External links


Profile in ''The New York Times''
*"Hughes-Plath Family Tree

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hughes, Nicholas 1962 births Alumni of the University of Oxford English ichthyologists Suicides by hanging in Alaska 2009 suicides 2009 deaths People with mood disorders Sylvia Plath University of Alaska Fairbanks alumni University of Alaska Fairbanks faculty 20th-century British zoologists Plath-Hughes family