Simon R Leather Hon.FRES (13 March 1955 - 27 September 2021) was an

entomologist Entomology () is the scientific study of insects, a branch of zoology. In the past the term "insect" was less specific, and historically the definition of entomology would also include the study of animals in other arthropod groups, such as arach ...

in the UK, he was Professor of Entomology at

Harper Adams University Harper Adams University, founded in 1901 as Harper Adams College, is a public university located close to the village of Edgmond, near Newport, in Shropshire, England. Established in 1901, the college is a specialist provider of higher educat ...

, Honorary Fellow of the

Royal Entomological Society The Royal Entomological Society is devoted to the study of insects. Its aims are to disseminate information about insects and improving communication between entomologists. The society was founded in 1833 as the Entomological Society of London ...

and an expert in

aphid Aphids are small sap-sucking insects and members of the superfamily Aphidoidea. Common names include greenfly and blackfly, although individuals within a species can vary widely in color. The group includes the fluffy white woolly aphids. A t ...

s and applied entomology.

Education and career

Leather had a childhood interest in insects and was educated at

King George V School (Hong Kong) King George V School (KGV, pronounced "K-G-Five") is a coeducational international secondary independent school of the English Schools Foundation (ESF), located in Ho Man Tin, Hong Kong. The school has more than 1,900 students and is one of the o ...

and

Ripon Grammar School Ripon Grammar School is a co-educational, boarding and day, selective grammar school in Ripon, North Yorkshire, England. It has been named top-performing state school in the north for nine years running by ''The Sunday Times''. It is one of the ...

, he studied BSc Agricultural Zoology at the

University of Leeds , mottoeng = And knowledge will be increased , established = 1831 – Leeds School of Medicine1874 – Yorkshire College of Science1884 - Yorkshire College1887 – affiliated to the federal Victoria University1904 – University of Leeds , ...

, graduating in 1977; and a PhD on the ecology of the bird cherry-oat aphid at the

University of East Anglia The University of East Anglia (UEA) is a public research university in Norwich, England. Established in 1963 on a campus west of the city centre, the university has four faculties and 26 schools of study. The annual income of the institution f ...

, graduating in 1980. He was a

Royal Society The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...

postdoctoral fellow in Finland, working on the bird cherry-oat aphid, he moved back to UEA and then worked at the

Forestry Commission The Forestry Commission is a non-ministerial government department responsible for the management of publicly owned forests and the regulation of both public and private forestry in England. The Forestry Commission was previously also respon ...

. In the early 1990s he moved the Silwood Park campus of

Imperial College London Imperial College London (legally Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine) is a public research university in London, United Kingdom. Its history began with Prince Albert, consort of Queen Victoria, who developed his vision for a cu ...

to be a lecturer, rising to Reader in Applied Ecology, in 2012 Leather moved to Harper Adams University to be Professor of Entomology.

Academic activities

Leather did extensive research into

integrated pest management Integrated pest management (IPM), also known as integrated pest control (IPC) is a broad-based approach that integrates both chemical and non-chemical practices for economic control of pests. IPM aims to suppress pest populations below the econ ...

of insect pests in

agriculture Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled people to ...

horticulture Horticulture is the branch of agriculture that deals with the art, science, technology, and business of plant cultivation. It includes the cultivation of fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, herbs, sprouts, mushrooms, algae, flowers, seaweeds and no ...

and

forestry Forestry is the science and craft of creating, managing, planting, using, conserving and repairing forests, woodlands, and associated resources for human and environmental benefits. Forestry is practiced in plantations and natural stands. Th ...

and he was a member of the

UK government ga, Rialtas a Shoilse gd, Riaghaltas a Mhòrachd , image = HM Government logo.svg , image_size = 220px , image2 = Royal Coat of Arms of the United Kingdom (HM Government).svg , image_size2 = 180px , caption = Royal Arms , date_es ...

's Tree Health and Plant Biosecurity Taskforce. His work on aphids includes the discovery in pea aphids of cannibalistic behaviour. Leather has also carried out research in

urban ecology Urban ecology is the scientific study of the relation of living organisms with each other and their surroundings in an urban environment. An urban environment refers to environments dominated by high-density residential and commercial buildings ...

, looking at the biodiversity value of

roundabout A roundabout is a type of circular intersection or junction in which road traffic is permitted to flow in one direction around a central island, and priority is typically given to traffic already in the junction.''The New Shorter Oxford En ...

s for over 10 years in

Bracknell Forest Bracknell Forest is a unitary authority area in Berkshire, southern England. It covers the two towns of Bracknell and Sandhurst and the village of Crowthorne and also includes the areas of North Ascot, Warfield and Winkfield. The borough bor ...

. He was an advocate of the need for specialist training in entomology and

taxonomy Taxonomy is the practice and science of categorization or classification. A taxonomy (or taxonomical classification) is a scheme of classification, especially a hierarchical classification, in which things are organized into groups or types. ...

and before his move to Harper Adams University was concerned that his then unique (in the UK) Masters courses in Entomology, Integrated Pest Management and

Plant Pathology Plant pathology (also phytopathology) is the scientific study of diseases in plants caused by pathogens (infectious organisms) and environmental conditions (physiological factors). Organisms that cause infectious disease include fungus, fung ...

would cease on his eventual retirement. In 2009 he coined the phrase 'institutional vertebratism' to describe the bias of scientific research funding to vertebrate animals, rather than the more numerous

invertebrate Invertebrates are a paraphyletic group of animals that neither possess nor develop a vertebral column (commonly known as a ''backbone'' or ''spine''), derived from the notochord. This is a grouping including all animals apart from the chordate ...

s. In late 2012 Leather joined

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

with the account handle ''@entoprof'' ''and'' in 2013 he started a personal blog ''Don't forget the roundabouts''. He talked and wrote about new platforms for non-academic

science communication Science communication is the practice of informing, educating, raising awareness of science-related topics, and increasing the sense of wonder about scientific discoveries and arguments. Science communicators and audiences are ambiguously def ...

that are available online.

Books

* ''Ecology of Insect Overwintering'', with Keith Walters and Jeff Bale, published by

Cambridge University Press Cambridge University Press is the university press of the University of Cambridge. Granted letters patent by Henry VIII of England, King Henry VIII in 1534, it is the oldest university press A university press is an academic publishing hou ...

in 1993. * ''Insect Reproduction'', with Jim Hardie, published by

CRC Press The CRC Press, LLC is an American publishing group that specializes in producing technical books. Many of their books relate to engineering, science and mathematics. Their scope also includes books on business, forensics and information tec ...

in 1995. * ''Insects on cherry trees'' with Keith Bland, number 27 in the Naturalists' Handbooks series in 1999, now published by Pelagic Publishing. * ''Edited Insect Sampling in Forest Ecosystems'' published by

Wiley Wiley may refer to: Locations * Wiley, Colorado, a U.S. town *Wiley, Pleasants County, West Virginia, U.S. * Wiley-Kaserne, a district of the city of Neu-Ulm, Germany People * Wiley (musician), British grime MC, rapper, and producer * Wiley Mill ...

in 2005. * ''Insects: A Very Short Introduction'' published by

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print books ...

in 2022, part of the

Very Short Introductions ''Very Short Introductions'' (''VSI'') is a book series published by the Oxford University Press (OUP). The books are concise introductions to particular subjects, intended for a general audience but written by experts. Most are under 200 page ...

series.

Honours and awards

* Made Honorary Fellow of the

in 2015. * Was a past president of the Amateur Entomologists Society. * Founding editor of the journal '' Insect Conservation & Diversity,'' with Yves Basset and Raphael Didham * Editor in Chief of the Association of Applied Biologist's journal ''Annals of Applied Biology''.

References

External links

Harper Adams University profile
*Persona
blog
{{DEFAULTSORT:Leather, Simon Robert Alumni of King George V School, Hong Kong People educated at Ripon Grammar School Alumni of the University of Leeds Alumni of the University of East Anglia Fellows of the Royal Entomological Society People associated with Harper Adams University British entomologists