John Philip Cooper CBE. 16 December 1923—18 November 2011

Abstract

John Cooper's innovative research into the genetics of plant growth and development was established with the aim of identifying characters which would guide plant breeders in their selection programmes. Working with certain forage grasses (mainly ryegrass but also cocksfoot and fescue), he analysed growth and development into components, including flowering time, leaf development, photosynthetic efficiency, canopy structure in the crop and nutritional quality. He and his colleagues were able to show, by a combination of selection experiments and comparisons of variance between and within families, that considerable genetic variation existed within all varieties of these outbreeding crops. All the characters were polygenic, with no evidence of individual genes manifesting distinct Mendelian ratios. Cooper obtained information of great value for the plant breeders with whom he worked closely. His research stimulated others to build on his ideas when new molecular techniques became available. After two decades of creative research at the Welsh Plant Breeding Station, John Cooper became its Director in 1975. This coincided with a turbulent period in government-sponsored agricultural research that involved reductions in funding. Cooper disagreed with the underlying policy changes, but he worked hard to minimize the number of redundancies and the damage to the scientific work of the station. Overall, John Cooper had a distinguished scientific career. His personal achievements from his own research activities and that of his colleagues were unique and innovative. He led by example, by stimulation and by inspiration, and developed a wide international influence for his ideas.