Rosmarie Honegger (born 1947) is a Swiss lichenologist and Emeritus Professor at the

University of Zurich The University of Zurich (UZH, ) is a public university, public research university in Zurich, Switzerland. It is the largest university in Switzerland, with its 28,000 enrolled students. It was founded in 1833 from the existing colleges of the ...

Academic career

Honegger was born in 1947 and grew up in

Emmental The Emmental (, ) is a valley in west-central Switzerland, forming part of the canton of Bern. It is a hilly landscape comprising the basins of the rivers Emme and Ilfis. The region is mostly devoted to farming, particularly dairy farming. The ...

, Switzerland. She developed an early interest in plants, and was recommended to study

lichen A lichen ( , ) is a hybrid colony (biology), colony of algae or cyanobacteria living symbiotically among hypha, filaments of multiple fungus species, along with yeasts and bacteria embedded in the cortex or "skin", in a mutualism (biology), m ...

s by a biology teacher. This led to a research project involving compiling a

flora Flora (: floras or florae) is all the plant life present in a particular region or time, generally the naturally occurring (indigenous (ecology), indigenous) native plant, native plants. The corresponding term for animals is ''fauna'', and for f ...

of her home town, which, in 1967, led to her earning a prize at an international

science fair A science fair or engineering fair is an event hosted by a school that offers students the opportunity to experience the practices of science and engineering for themselves. In the United States, the Next Generation Science Standards makes ex ...

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

. The same year, she began studies at the

University of Basel The University of Basel (Latin: ''Universitas Basiliensis''; German: ''Universität Basel'') is a public research university in Basel, Switzerland. Founded on 4 April 1460, it is Switzerland's oldest university and among the world's oldest univ ...

. Honegger earned her PhD in biology from the University of Basel in 1976. Her doctoral research examined the structure and function of the

ascus An ascus (; : asci) is the sexual spore-bearing cell produced in ascomycete fungi. Each ascus usually contains eight ascospores (or octad), produced by meiosis followed, in most species, by a mitotic cell division. However, asci in some gen ...

(the

spore In biology, a spore is a unit of sexual reproduction, sexual (in fungi) or asexual reproduction that may be adapted for biological dispersal, dispersal and for survival, often for extended periods of time, in unfavourable conditions. Spores fo ...

-bearing structure) in the lichen genus ''

Lecanora ''Lecanora'' is a genus of lichen commonly called rim lichens.Field Guide to California Lichens, Stephen Sharnoff, Yale University Press, 2014, Lichens in the genus '' Squamarina'' are also called rim lichens. Members of the genus have roughly c ...

'', using microscopic techniques. In 1977 she accepted a

postdoctoral research A postdoctoral fellow, postdoctoral researcher, or simply postdoc, is a person professionally conducting research after the completion of their doctoral studies (typically a PhD). Postdocs most commonly, but not always, have a temporary acade ...

position in the Institute of Plant Biology at the University of Zurich. After a time working at the

University of California, Riverside The University of California, Riverside (UCR or UC Riverside) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Riverside, California, United States. It is one of the ten campuses of the University of Cali ...

she returned to Switzerland as professor in the Institute of Plant Biology of the University of Zurich. Honegger retired in 2009 as Emeritus Professor. From 2011 she worked with

Dianne Edwards Professor Dianne Edwards CBE, FRS, FRSE, FLS, FLSW (born 1942) is a palaeobotanist, who studies the colonisation of land by plants, and early land plant interactions. Early life Edwards was born in Swansea, South Wales, and spent much of he ...

, a

palaeobotanist Paleobotany or palaeobotany, also known as paleophytology, is the branch of botany dealing with the recovery and identification of plant fossils from geological contexts, and their use for the biological reconstruction of past environments (pale ...

at the

Cardiff University Cardiff University () is a public research university in Cardiff, Wales. It was established in 1883 as the University College of South Wales and Monmouthshire and became a founding college of the University of Wales in 1893. It was renamed Unive ...

on lichen fossils found on the Welsh borderland. Honegger was awarded the International Association for Lichenology's

Acharius Medal __NOTOC__ The Acharius Medal is awarded by the International Association for Lichenology (IAL) for lifetime achievement in lichenology. The organization resolved at its 1990 meeting that it would simultaneously honor professional achievement and ...

for her lifetime work in lichenology in 2008 and in 2015 she received the

Linnean Medal The Linnean Medal of the Linnean Society of London was established in 1888, and is awarded annually to alternately a botanist or a zoologist or (as has been common since 1958) to one of each in the same year. The medal was of gold until 1976, and ...

recognising her contribution to the natural sciences. She was one of the "Fifty influential lichenologists" discussed in

Ingvar Kärnefelt Jan Eric Ingvar Kärnefelt (born 1944) is a Swedish lichenologist. Early life and education Kärnefelt was born in Gothenburg, Sweden in 1944. His initial goal in his higher-level studies at University of Cologne in 1966–1967 was to become a ...

's 2011 review of the scientific progress of lichenology and the scientists who study it. Among the lichens named in her honour is '' Xanthomendoza rosmarieae'', described in 2011 by

Sergey Kondratyuk Sergey Yakovlevich Kondratyuk () (born 17 May 1959) is a Ukrainian botanist specialising in lichenology. His research deals with the taxonomy, floristics, ecology and geography of lichens and lichenicolous fungi. He has worked at the for mo ...

and Kärnefelt.

Selected publications

* * * * * *

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Honegger, Rosmarie 1947 births Living people University of Basel alumni Academic staff of the University of Zurich University of California, Riverside faculty Swiss lichenologists Acharius Medal recipients Linnean Medallists Women lichenologists