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The history of science, pure and applied, in Australia, New Zealand and the southwest Pacific
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EDITORIAL (Open Access)
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Jeremy David Pickett-Heaps 1940–2021†

Peter Beech https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1669-6623 A * and Arthur Forer B
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations

A School of Life and Environmental Sciences, Deakin University, Vic, Australia.

B Biology Department, Professor Emeritus, FRSC, York University, Toronto, ON, Canada.

* Correspondence to: peter.beech@deakin.edu.au

Historical Records of Australian Science https://doi.org/10.1071/HR24017
Published online: 6 August 2024

© 2024 The Author(s) (or their employer(s)). Published by CSIRO Publishing on behalf of the Australian Academy of Science. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-ND)

Abstract

Jeremy Pickett-Heaps was a biologist whose acute observational powers were fed by a deep fascination for how cells work; he had an affinity for the myriad diversity of algae and other protists in general and for what they could teach us about all cells. An early adopter of the electron microscope, he made fundamental discoveries in plant cell division and green algal phylogeny that developed into studies on cell division in general: first with the highly-ordered diatoms and other protists, and later with animal cells. In the latter part of his career, Jeremy mastered time-lapse micro-cinematography to document the dynamic lives of cells and, through the resultant movies and his enthusiastic teaching, introduced many to the wonders of microscopic life.

Keywords: algae, botany, cells, cinematography, diatoms, gliding, mitosis, wheat.

References

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Cohn, S. A., Nash, J., and Pickett-Heaps, J. D. (1989) The effect of drugs on diatom valve morphogenesis, Protoplasma, 149, 130-143.
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Cohn, S. A., Spurck, T. P., and Pickett-Heaps, J. D. (1999) High energy irradiation at the leading tip of moving diatoms causes a rapid change of cell direction, Diatom Research, 14, 193-206.
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Forer, A., and Pickett-Heaps, J. D. (1998) Cytochalasin D and latrunculin affect chromosome behaviour during meiosis in cranefly spermatocytes, Chromosome Research, 6, 533-549.
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Forer, A., Spurck, T., and Pickett-Heaps, J. D. (2007) Actin and myosin inhibitors block elongation of kinetochore fibre stubs in metaphase crane-fly spermatocytes, Protoplasma, 232, 79-85.
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Leslie, R. J., and Pickett-Heaps, J. D. (1984) Spindle microtubule dynamics following ultraviolet microbeam irradiations of mitotic diatoms, Cell, 36, 717-727.
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Northcote, D. H., and Pickett-Heaps, J. D. (1966) A function of the Golgi apparatus in polysaccharide synthesis and transport in the root-cap cells of wheat, Biochemical Journal, 98, 159-167.
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Pickett-Heaps, J. D. (1966) Incorporation of radioactivity into wheat xylem walls, Planta, 71, 1-14.
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Pickett-Heaps, J. D. (1967a) The use of radioautography for investigating wall secretion in plant cells, Protoplasma, 64, 49-66.
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Pickett-Heaps, J. D. (1967b) Further observations on the Golgi apparatus and its function in cells of the wheat seedling, Journal of Ultrastructure Research, 18, 287-303.
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Pickett-Heaps, J. D. (1967c) Ultrastructure and differentiation in Chara sp. I Vegetative cells, Australian Journal of Biological Sciences, 20, 539-552.
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Pickett-Heaps, J. D. (1967d) Ultrastructure and differentiation in Chara sp. II Mitosis, Australian Journal of Biological Sciences, 20, 883-894.
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Pickett-Heaps, J. D. (1967e) Ultrastructure and differentiation in Chara sp. III Formation of the antheridium, Australian Journal of Biological Sciences, 21, 255-274.
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Pickett-Heaps, J. D. (1967f) Ultrastructure and differentiation in Chara sp. III Formation of the antheridium, Australian Journal of Biological Sciences, 21, 255-274.
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Pickett-Heaps, J. D. (1968) Further ultrastructural observations on polysaccharide localization in plant cells, Journal of Cell Science, 3, 55-64.
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Pickett-Heaps, J. D. (1972) Variation in mitosis and cytokinesis in plant cells: Its significance in phylogeny and evolution of ultrastructural systems, Cytobios, 5, 59-77.
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Pickett-Heaps, J. D. (1975) Green Algae: structure, reproduction and evolution in selected genera, Sinaur Associates, Sunderland, MA, USA.

Pickett‐Heaps, J. (1983) Valve morphogenesis and the microtubule center in three species of the diatom Nitzschia, Journal of Phycology, 19(3), 269-281.
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Pickett-Heaps, J., and Forer, A. (2009) Mitosis: spindle evolution and the matrix model, Protoplasma, 235, 91-99.
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Pickett-Heaps, J. D., Forer, A., and Spurck, T. (1997) Traction fibre: toward a “tensegral” model of the spindle, Cell Motility and the Cytoskeleton, 37, 1-6.
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Pickett-Heaps, J. D., and Northcote, D. H. (1966a) Relationships of cellular organelles to the development and formation of the plant cell wall, Journal of Experimental Botany, 17, 20-26.
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Pickett-Heaps, J. D., and Northcote, D. H. (1966b) Organization of microtubules and endoplasmic reticulum during mitosis and cytokinesis in wheat meristems, Journal of Cell Science, 1, 109-120.
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Pickett-Heaps, J. D., and Northcote, D. H. (1966c) Cell division in the formation of the stomatal complex of the young leaves of wheat, Journal of Cell Science, 1, 121-128.
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Pickett-Heaps, J. D., and Northcote, D. H. (1966d) Cell division in the formation of the stomatal complex of the young leaves of wheat, Journal of Cell Science, 1(1), 121-128.
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Pickett-Heaps, J. D., and Spurck, T. P. (1982a) Studies on kinetochore function in mitosis. I. The effects of colchicine and cytochalasin on mitosis in the diatom Hantzschia amphioxys. European Journal of Cell Biology, 28(1), 77-82.
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Pickett-Heaps, J. D., and Spurck, T. P. (1982b) Studies on kinetochore function in mitosis. II. The effects of metabolic inhibitors on mitosis in the diatom Hanzschia amphioxys, European Journal of Cell Biology, 28(1), 83-91.
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Pickett-Heaps, J. D., and Tippit, D. H. (1978) The diatom spindle in perspective, Cell, 14(3), 455-467.
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Pickett-Heaps, J. D., Schmid, A. M., and Tippit, D. H. (1984) Cell division in diatoms: a translation of part of Robert Lauterborn’s treatise of 1896 with some modern confirmatory observations, Protoplasma, 120, 132-154.
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Pickett-Heaps, J. D., Tippit, D. H., and Leslie, R. (1980) Light and electron microscopic observations on cell division in two large pennate diatoms. Hantzschia and Nitzschia. II. Ultrastructure. European Journal of Cell Biology, 21(1), 12-27.
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Pickett-Heaps, J. D., Tippit, D. H., and Porter, K. R. (1982) The diatom spindle in mitosis, Cell, 29, 729-744.
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Sampson, K., and Pickett-Heaps, J. D. (2001) Phallacidin stains the kinetochore region in the mitotic spindle of the green algae Oedogonium spp. Protoplasma, 217, 166-176.
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Sampson, K., Pickett-Heaps, J. D., and Forer, A. (1996) Actin is involved in chromosomal attachment to the spindle and possibly anaphase A movement of chromosomes in the green alga Oedogonium, Protoplasma, 192, 130-144.
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Spurck, T. P., Pickett-Heaps, J. D., and Klymkowsky, M. W. (1986b) Metabolic inhibitors and mitosis. II. Effects of dinitrophenol/deoxyglucose and nocodazole on the microtubule cytoskeleton, Protoplasma, 131, 60-74.
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