Charles Madera Rick (30 April 1915 – 5 May 2002) was a

plant geneticist A plant geneticist is a scientist involved with the study of genetics in botany. Typical work is done with genes in order to isolate and then develop certain plant traits. Once a certain trait, such as plant height, fruit sweetness, or tolerance to ...

and botanist who pioneered research on the origins of the

tomato The tomato is the edible berry of the plant ''Solanum lycopersicum'', commonly known as the tomato plant. The species originated in western South America, Mexico, and Central America. The Mexican Nahuatl word gave rise to the Spanish word ...

. He was widely regarded as the world's leading authority on tomato biology. Born in 1915 in

Reading, PA Reading ( ; Pennsylvania Dutch: ''Reddin'') is a city in and the county seat of Berks County, Pennsylvania, United States. The city had a population of 95,112 as of the 2020 census and is the fourth-largest city in Pennsylvania after Philadel ...

, Rick earned a

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ...

in horticulture in 1937 from Pennsylvania State University. He earned a

doctoral degree A doctorate (from Latin ''docere'', "to teach"), doctor's degree (from Latin ''doctor'', "teacher"), or doctoral degree is an academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism ''l ...

in genetics from

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...

in 1940 and joined the Vegetable Crops Department at the

University of California, Davis The University of California, Davis (UC Davis, UCD, or Davis) is a public land-grant research university near Davis, California. Named a Public Ivy, it is the northernmost of the ten campuses of the University of California system. The inst ...

in 1940. On retirement from the University of California in 1981 he became professor emeritus and continued his research and lecturing for doctoral students till his late days. He died on May 5, 2002 in Davis, California.

Tomato Research

For his research, Professor Rick made expeditions to locations in the

Andes The Andes, Andes Mountains or Andean Mountains (; ) are the longest continental mountain range in the world, forming a continuous highland along the western edge of South America. The range is long, wide (widest between 18°S – 20°S ...

and the Galapagos Islands, collecting a diversity of cultivated tomatoes and hundreds of wild tomato species. His research contributed to the areas of plant genetics, evolution, genome mapping and archiving the seeds of tomatoes and related plant species. In 1949 Rick co-founded the Tomato Genetics Cooperative to encourage communication and exchange of research findings among tomato researchers. He published the cooperative's newsletter from its inception in 1951 until 1981.

Recognition

Rick was elected to the

US National Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the Natio ...

in 1967. The C.M. Rick Tomato Genetics Resource Center at UC Davis, a living genebank of wild relatives, monogenic mutants and miscellaneous genetic stocks of tomato is named for Professor Rick.C.M. Rick Tomato Genetics Resource Center
/ref> Dr. Rick was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 1967. http://www.nasonline.org/member-directory/deceased-members/51232.html

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Rick, Charles M. American botanists American geneticists University of California, Davis faculty Penn State College of Agricultural Sciences alumni 1915 births 2002 deaths Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences Harvard University alumni