D. W. Robertson (1893-1969)
David Wield (Scotty) Robertson was instrumental in establishing a uniform
system of nomenclature and gene symbolization in barley. He joined the
staff at Colorado State University in 1920 where he remained until his
death in 1969. He investigated inheritance and linkage in barley in a continual
attempt to improve the linkage maps. His "Summary of Linkage Studies in
Barley" are the central source of information and literature on chromosome
linkage in barley throughout the world.
R. G. Shands (1904-1967)
Reubush George Shands was a leader in barley research. He was a member
of the staff at the University of Wisconsin from 1925 until his death in
1967. He was also a U.S. Department of Agriculture agronomist during his
tenure at the University. Professor Shands was a prominent barley breeder
and geneticist who was principally interested in the genetics and breeding
for disease resistance. He was a co-author of several " Summaries of Linkage
Studies in Barley".
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(p. ii)
BARLEY GENETICS NEWSLETTER
Vol. 1
EDITORIAL COMMITTEE
T. E. Haus, Colorado
R. T. Ramage, Arizona
T. Tsuchiya, Colorado
Department of Agronomy
Colorado State University
Fort Collins, Colorado 80521, U.S.A.
April 10, 1971
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(pp. iii-iv)
FOREWORD
The First International Barley Genetics Symposium was held at Wageningen,
The Netherlands, August 26-31, 1963. Among the many problems discussed
at the Symposium was the need for an international barley genetics newsletter.
During the closing session of the Symposium, a Permanent Committee was
elected. Among the responsibilities assigned to the Permanent Committee
was "To investigate the possibilities for the editing of an international
barley genetics newsletter".
The Second International Barley Genetics Symposium was held at Pullman, Washington, U.S.A., July 6-11, 1969. Among the Committee Reports adopted by the Symposium was one concerning the Barley Genetics Newsletter. "A Barley Genetics News Letter will be published yearly from 1970. Besides research notes, the News Letter will report genetic marker stock lists and new information in linkage studies. The complete, up-dated linkage map of the genetic markers and the map of the translocation breakage points will be published in every issue. Dr. D. W. Robertson, Department of Agronomy, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado, U.S.A., Dr. T. Tsuchiya, Department of Agronomy, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado, U.S.A., Dr. T. E. Haus, Department of Agronomy, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado, U.S.A., and Dr. R. T. Ramage, Department of Agronomy, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona, U.S.A., have agreed to serve as editors of the News Letter and to arrange for publication and distribution. The chromosome coordinators are responsible for updating the two linkage maps. All new linkage information has, therefore, to be reported to these coordinators. The first issue of the News Letter will contain the precise information on the linkage values, by which a gene has been put on the map. It will also contain the complete list of symbols assigned to genes and translocation stocks. Thereafter, only newly assigned symbols will be reported by the committee for assigning symbols and the committee on translocations. With regard to symbols and stock designations the News Letter will be the authoritative publication. As a consequence thereof, parts of the News Letter concerned with symbols, stock lists, and linkage maps may be cited without permission, whereas for citation of research notes the authors have to grant permission. The publication of the Barley Genetics News Letter is to be supported financially by funds from the United States, Canada and Europe. Dr. Robertson coordinates the efforts to obtain such funds (grant) in the U.S., Dr. G. W. R. Walker coordinates fund-raising efforts in Canada and Dr. D. von Wettstein in Europe. Additional funds will be raised by subscription to the publication."
The death of Dr. D. W. Robertson was a great loss to the Editorial Committee, as it was to barley genetics.
The Editorial Committee has tried to follow the dictates of the Second International Barley Genetics Symposium in preparing this first issue of the Barley Genetics Newsletter. New ideas concerning gene symbolization and nomenclature, maintenance of world collections of genetic stocks and duties of coordinators are being introduced and discussed. These ideas have resulted in some changes of the suggestions adopted at the Symposium. Coordinator reports were of particular concern. Problems with coordinator reports were undoubtedly due to a lack of communication between the various coordinators and the Editorial Committee. This will be remedied before publication of the 1971 Barley Genetics Newsletter.
Research notes included in this first issue of the Barley Genetics Newsletter are indicative of research being conducted by barley geneticists. The Editorial Committee proudly acknowledges the quantity and particularly the quality of barley genetic research and encourages the submission of progress reports to the Barley Genetic Newsletter. Progress reports and research notes will encourage communication between researchers thereby magnifying and facilitating advances in barley genetics.
The Editorial Committee wishes to thank all contributors to the 1970
Barley Genetics Newsletter and sincerely hopes that no one is offended
by manuscript changes made by the editors. We have gained valuable experience
in preparing the first issue and are sure that many changes will be made
in the 1971 issue. We earnestly solicit suggestions for the improvement
of the 1971 issue of the Barley Genetics Newsletter.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The publication of this issue was financially supported jointly by
the National Science Foundation, United States of America (GB 4482x) and
by European countries. Financial support for the publication of BGN from
Europe was arranged by Drs. G. Fischbeck, H. Gaul, A. Gustafsson, A. Hagberg,
J. Sandfaer and D. von Wettstein.
