This volume of the Barley Genetics Newsletter is dedicated to Doctor Gustav Adolphus Wiebe.
G. A. Wiebe (March 12, 1899-- August 28, 1975)
Gustav Adolphus (Gus) Wiebe joined the staff of the United States Department of Agriculture as a full-time employee in 1922, following his graduation from the University of Idaho. His entire career was spent with the Department in cereal breeding and genetics and he worked almost exclusively with barley since 1935. From 1946 until his retirement in 1969 he was leader of barley investigations for the USDA Agricultural Research Service. He was the principal founder of the North American Barley Research Conference and was one of the original organizers of the International Barley Genetics Symposium, and served as its first president. His studies included many phases of barley improvement and genetics and he was co-author of several "Summaries of Linkage Studies in Barley". He was widely known for his work with barley classification, isogenic lines, composite crosses and breeding methods, and traveled extensively in the United States and abroad consulting with breeders and geneticists. After retirement, Dr. Wiebe continued his personal research in Arizona, Idaho, Montana and Maryland until his death. In 1970 he personally collected over 1100 barley lines in Ethiopia. He was the recipient of the M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of California, an honorary degree from the University of Idaho and the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Superior and Distinguished Service Awards.
