AWARDS OF CERTIFICATES OF MERIT 1 5 



Announcement of the awards, together with a reading of the appropriate 

 citations, was made a prominent feature of the program at the annual banquet 

 of the Society held at the University of Connecticut on August 29, 1956. All 

 recipients had been notified in advance of their selection, and it was gratifying 

 that approximately half of them could be present on this occasion to receive 

 the award in person. 



In concluding this brief account, it may be appropriate to add that the 

 committee is under no illusion that it has selected the fifty outstanding bot- 

 anists of this continent. This would be a task beyond human capabilities. 

 In the committee's judgment, however, all recipients are highly deserving of 

 the recognition which has been given them. Since it is the intention of the 

 Society that the practice of making such awards, on a smaller scale, will be 

 continued for future meetings, other botanists deserving such a distinction 

 will undoubtedly be so recognized in the years to come. 



Following is the list of the recipients ^ of these awards and the accompany- 

 ing citations: 



Harry Ardell Allard, for his pioneer investigations of photoperiodism in 

 plants and for his long-continued contributions to our knowledge of this 

 phenomenon and to other areas of botanical science. 



Edgar Anderson, for his extensive contributions to the general problems 

 of evolution, including the species problem, self-sterility, and particularly 

 his sponsorship of the idea of introgressive hybridization. 



Dixon Lloyd Bailey, discerning analyst and interpreter of the concepts of 

 plant pathology, enriching influence in the lives of his associates, and 

 outstanding contributor to the vigor of scientific study in Canada. 



Irving Widmer Bailey, plant anatomist and inspiring teacher, for his out- 

 standing contributions on the structure of the cell wall and the histology 

 of the cambium and for his application of anatomy and morphology to 

 problems of evolution of angiosperms. 



Harley Harris Bartlett, for his unflagging support and encouragement of 

 the whole iield of botany and its students and for his diverse contribu- 

 tions to paleobotany, enthnobotany, ecology, and systematics. 



George Wells Beadle, for his long list of contributions to the cytogenetics 

 of Zea mays and Drosophila and the tremendous impetus he has lately 

 given to the field of physiological and chemical genetics, particularly in 

 Neurospora. 



Ernst Athearn Bessey, who with an undeviating zeal for accuracy has 

 fashioned our generation's magisterial presentation of the science of 

 mycology. 



^ Dr. Oswald Tippo deserves much credit for his accomplishment of a difficult 

 task, namely, of bringing together into one collection portraits of the fifty distin- 

 guished recipients of Certificates of Merit, to accompany their citations. 



