Charles Geddes Coull Chesters OBE

FRSE Fellowship of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (FRSE) is an award granted to individuals that the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Scotland's national academy of science and letters, judged to be "eminently distinguished in their subject". This soci ...

FLS (1904–1993) was a British

botanist Botany, also called , plant biology or phytology, is the science of plant life and a branch of biology. A botanist, plant scientist or phytologist is a scientist who specialises in this field. The term "botany" comes from the Ancient Greek wo ...

specialising in

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

and

lichen A lichen ( , ) is a composite organism that arises from algae or cyanobacteria living among filaments of multiple fungi species in a mutualistic relationship.Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

on 9 March 1904, the son of Charles Geddes Chesters, a commercial traveller, and Margaret Geddes. He attended Hyndland School in Glasgow. He was awarded a place at

Glasgow University , image = UofG Coat of Arms.png , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of arms Flag , latin_name = Universitas Glasguensis , motto = la, Via, Veritas, Vita , ...

in 1922 and graduated BSc in botany in 1926. His early interest lay in aquatic and salt-marsh vegetation. However, from 1931 he began to specialise in fungi, and founded the Research School in Phycomycetes (looking at fungi responsible for soil-born plant diseases) and Pyrenomycetes (wood- and bark-inhibiting fungi). At this time he was working with

Walter Stiles Walter may refer to: People * Walter (name), both a surname and a given name * Little Walter, American blues harmonica player Marion Walter Jacobs (1930–1968) * Gunther (wrestler), Austrian professional wrestler and trainer Walter Hahn (born 1 ...

FRS at

Birmingham University , mottoeng = Through efforts to heights , established = 1825 – Birmingham School of Medicine and Surgery1836 – Birmingham Royal School of Medicine and Surgery1843 – Queen's College1875 – Mason Science College1898 – Mason Univers ...

. In 1937 he received a PhD for work in this field. In the war he served as an air raid warden. In 1944 he succeeded

Thomas Bennet-Clark Thomas Archibald Bennet-Clark Order of the British Empire, CBE Fellow of the Royal Society, FRS (13 January 1903 – 24 November 1975) was a British biologist. Early life He was born in Edinburgh the son of Thomas Bennet-Clark, a chartered a ...

as professor of botany at Nottingham, holding this position for 25 years. He was also dean of faculty from 1945. He was elected a fellow of the

Royal Society of Edinburgh The Royal Society of Edinburgh is Scotland's national academy of science and letters. It is a registered charity that operates on a wholly independent and non-partisan basis and provides public benefit throughout Scotland. It was established i ...

in 1953. He retired in 1969 and moved to

Quenington Quenington is a nucleated village and larger rural civil parish in the Cotswold district of Gloucestershire, England, on the River Coln east of Cirencester and north of Fairford. It has a recorded population of 603 people as at the 2011 censu ...

, where his daughter already lived. In 1977 he received an OBE for services to education. He died at home on 13 February 1993 in

, near

Cirencester Cirencester (, ; see below for more variations) is a market town in Gloucestershire, England, west of London. Cirencester lies on the River Churn, a tributary of the River Thames, and is the largest town in the Cotswolds. It is the home of ...

Artistic recognition

A commemorative bust to Chesters stands in the Biology Building at the

University of Nottingham The University of Nottingham is a public university, public research university in Nottingham, United Kingdom. It was founded as University College Nottingham in 1881, and was granted a royal charter in 1948. The University of Nottingham belongs t ...

Publications

*''A Method of Isolating Soil Fungi'' (1940)

Other Positions Held

* President of the British Association for the Advancement of Science * Co-founder of the Institute of Biology

Family

He married Margaret Mercedes Cathie Maclean in 1928. They had a son, Charles and daughter Kathleen.

References

1904 births 1993 deaths Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh British mycologists Alumni of the University of Glasgow Scientists from Glasgow {{Scotland-botanist-stub