Heinrich Anton De Bary

日植病報 54: 668-670 (1988) Ann. Phytopath. Soc. Japan 54: 668-670 (1988) 特別講演 Heinrich Anton de Bary Johan Dekker President of ISPP We briefly reviewed the development of our young International Society for Plant Pathology during the past five years. We should remember, however, that also the science of plant pathology itself is not very old. This year we commemorate that 100 years ago, in 1888, Anton de Bary died. This famous German botanist put the study of plant diseases on a scientific basis, and is therefore known as the father of plant pathology. The organizing committee asked me to say a few words about this great pioneer and his work. Heinrich Anton de Bary was born on 27 January 1831 at Frankfurt am Main, in Germany. The French sounding name De Bary stems from the village of Barry, where his forbears came from, situated in the French speaking part of Belgium, 10km east of Tournai or Doornik. Anton followed the profession of his father and became a medical doctor in 1853. However, his prime interest was in plants, algae and fungi, which he investigated as a hobby already at school and during his medical study. In the same year that he became a medical doctor, in 1853, he published his first major work in this direction: 'Untersuchungen fiber die Brandpilze and die durch sic verursachten Krank heiten der Pflanzen' (Research on smut fungi and the plant diseases caused by them). He was the first one who proved that fungi could infect and attack healthy plants. Be fore that time it was generally assumed that fungi appeared only after the plant had become diseased in some way or another. When this epoch making paper appeared, De Bary was 22 years old. This work, however, was a hobby. The same year he started to practice medicine, which turned out to be not a satisfying profession for him. He appeared to be more interested in the diagnosis of the disease than in the patient. The treatment and cure of the disease, which was after all what the patient was interested in, was a 'boring burden' to him. So it was fortunate then, for the sick at Frankfurt as well as for himself and phytopathology, that already after one year he turned to bot any. This has led to the bright career, we all know. In 1855, at the age of 24, he became extraordinary professor at Freiburg, and after 4 years ordinary professor and director of the botanical garden. In 1867 he changed to the University of Halle, and in 1872 he was appointed at the newly established Kaiser Wilhelm University at Strassburg, where he became the first rector. In spite of these management duties, he spent much time on research, behind his microscope, and with his students. Many publications appeared. Most famous is his textbook: Morphol ogic and Physiologic der Pilze, Flechten and Myxomyceten (Morphology and Phys iology of fungi, lichens and slime molds) which appeared in 1866. He studied sex uality in fungi and elucidated the life cycle of many plant pathogens, among which the notorious Phytophthora infestans, downy and powdery mildews and Sclerotium diseases. Ann. Phytopath. Soc. Japan 54 (Special Issue). December, 1988 669 Heinrich Anton de Bary 1831-1888 Between 1860 and 1865 he traced out the complete life cycle of Puccinia graminis, and discovered that Berberis served as alternate host for this fungus. We own to him the terms heteroecism, autoecism, teleutospores and aecidiospores, saprophytism and para sitism, and symbiose. What kind of person was Anton de Bary? F. K. Sparrow, in his address to the Mycological Society of America in 1977, de scribes him as a very dynamic and stimulating person. He kept everyone, who came with his reach, stirred up and stimulated to do his best. He was severely critical to wards himself, and when necessary, towards others as well. There is little doubt but that he was of an excitable, intense and somewhat peppery disposition, indeed furious on occasion. But these aspects of his temperament were kept under strict control. Two basic features of his character were recognized by all who knew him: his strong sense of duty, and his absolute integrity and love of truth. Sparrow describes him further as somewhat below medium height, and slim. His movements were quick and his whole manner could be described as vivacious. A head of dark, smooth hair and a neatly trimmed beard were in contrast to a pair of piercing almost transparent blue eyes, which were said to look right through a person. Among the almost 100 students of De Bary, we find several names of men, who themselves have become celebrities in phytopathology, such as Woronin, Millardet, Beyerinck, Marshall Ward, Winogradsky and others. In this way the knowledge and ideas of Anton de Bary have had a multiplying influence on the development of phyto pathology, in the whole world. Very illustrative is a table, published by Horsfall in 1977 in his 5 volume treatise, showing the scientific genealogy of the presidents of the American Phytopathological Society from 1909-1978: 67 out of 70 presidents belonged to the Scientific Progeny of de Bary. Now, after a hundred years, his scientific prog eny numbers many of thousands. It seems appropriate that the international phytopathological community, present at this world congress of phytopathology, pays tribute to this great man. 6 7 0 Table 1. Scientific Genealogy of the Presidents of the American Phytopathological Society 目本植物病理学会報第 45 巻特別号昭和 36 年 21 月.

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