Alan Buchanan Wardrop 1921–2003

Abstract

Alan Buchanan Wardrop was one of Australia's most distinguished students of plant cell wall ultra-structure who made major contributions to our understanding of the structure of secondary walls and of how that structure affected the industrial uses of wood fibres. His work integrated information from observations with polarized light, X-rays and electron microscopy. Joining the Forest Products Division of Australia's Council for Scientific and Industrial Research in 1945, he became Foundation Professor of Biological Sciences at La Trobe University, Melbourne, in 1965.