Kerr, Allen (1926 - 2023)

Summary

Allen Kerr was Emeritus Professor of Plant Pathology at the University of Adelaide. He first joined the University in 1951 and spent around three years on secondment to the Tea Research Institute in Ceylon, where he headed the departments of Plant Pathology and Nematology. Kerr's most significant work was his study of crown gall - a plant cancer induced by Agrobacterium tumerfaciens.

Details

Chronology

1947

Education - Bachelor of Science with Honours (BSc(Hons)), University of Edinburgh

1947 - 1951

Career position - Assistant Mycologist at the North of Scotland College of Agriculture

1951 - 1958

Career position - Lecturer in Plant Pathology, University of Adelaide

1956

Education - Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), University of Adelaide

1959 - 1967

Career position - Senior Lecturer in Plant Pathology, University of Adelaide

1963 - 1966

Career position - Head of the Departments of Plant Pathology and Nematology at the Tea Research Institute in Ceylon (secondment)

1968 - 1980

Career position - Reader in Plant Pathology, University of Adelaide

1978

Award - Walter Burfitt Prize, Royal Society of New South Wales

1978 - 1983

Career position - Vice-President of the International Society for Plant Pathology

1978 - 2023

Award - Fellow, Australian Academy of Science (FAA)

1980 - 1983

Career position - President, Australasian Plant Pathology Society

1980 - 1989

Career position - Personal Chair in Plant Pathology at the Waite Agricultural Research Institute of the University of Adelaide

1982

Award - Ruth Allen Award, American Phytopathological Society

1986 - 2023

Award - Fellow, The Royal Society, London (FRS)

1990

Award - Australia Prize (in the field of Biological Sciences relating to agriculture or the environment) (joint), Australian Government

1990

Career position - Head of the Department of Plant Pathology, University of Adelaide

1991 - ?

Award - Foreign Associate of the US National Academy of Sciences

1991

Career position - Head of the Department of Crop Protection, University of Adelaide

1991

Life event - Retired

1991

Award - Elvin Charles Stackman Award, University of Minnesota

1991

Award - Foreign Associate of the US National Academy of Sciences

1992

Award - Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) for service to science, particularly to plant pathology

1995

Career position - Inaugural presentation of the Allen Kerr Post-graduate Prize of the Australasian Plant Pathology Society in Christchurch, New Zealand

1995 - 2023

Award - Fellow, Australasian Plant Pathology Society

1996 - 2023

Award - Fellow, American Phytopathological Society

2001 - 2023

Award - Fellow, American Academy of Microbiology

Related entries

Published resources

Journal Articles

• 'Professor Allen Kerr AO FAA FRS 21 May 1926 - 14 December 2023', Australian Academy of Science newletter, 179 (2024). https://www.science.org.au/academy-newsletter/january-february-2024-179/fellows-update. Details
• Kerr, Allen, Davies, Kerrie and Stirling, Graham, 'Henry Robert Wallace 1924-2011', Historical Records of Australian Science, 23 (2) (2012), 202-11, https://doi.org/10.1071/HR12008. Details

Resources

• Wikidata, http://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q4731736. Details
• 'Kerr, Allen (1926 - )', Recipients [of the Prime Minister's Prizes for Science, 2000 - 2017], Department of Industry, Innovation and Science, 2017, https://webarchive.nla.gov.au/awa/20171113020148/http://www.science.gov.au/community/PrimeMinistersPrizesforScience/Recipients/1990-1999/Pages/AllenKerr-EugeneNestor-JeffSchell.aspx. Details
• 'Kerr, Allen (1926 - 2023)', APPS honour board, Australasian Plant Pathology Society, 2024, https://www.appsnet.org/Awards/Kerr.pdf. https://www.appsnet.org/emembers.html. Details
• 'Kerr, Allen (19260521-)', Trove, National Library of Australia, 2009, https://nla.gov.au/nla.party-1476335. Details