E. J. H. Corner facts for kids

Edred John Henry Corner (born January 12, 1906 – died September 14, 1996) was a British scientist. He was a mycologist, which means he studied fungi like mushrooms. He was also a botanist, studying plants.

Corner worked as an assistant director at the Singapore Botanic Gardens from 1929 to 1946. Later, he became a Professor of Tropical Botany at the University of Cambridge from 1965 to 1973. He was also a Fellow at Sidney Sussex College.

Early Life and School

Growing Up in London

Edred Corner was born in London in 1906. His father, Edred Moss Corner, was a surgeon. When Edred was five, he developed a stammer, which means he sometimes had trouble speaking smoothly.

He went to school in London and later to a boarding school in Hertfordshire. He studied classic subjects like Greek and Latin, and also math. He was good at sports, but a sickness called polio made it hard for him to play for a while.

Discovering a Love for Plants

During his high school years at Rugby School, Edred first studied classics. But he soon found them boring and switched to science. He stopped playing sports to go on trips to study plants. This is where his interest in mushrooms began.

His father joined the British Mycological Society, a group for mushroom enthusiasts. He took 14-year-old Edred to one of their trips. There, Edred met famous mycologists like Carleton Rea.

University Days

In 1923, Edred went to Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge. He continued studying science and realized how much there was to learn. This desire to learn stayed with him his whole life.

At Cambridge, he met and learned from a scientist named Arthur Harry Church. Edred first focused his research on tiny fungi and how fungi live with other small plants called bryophytes.

Adventures in Singapore

Working at the Botanic Gardens

Because of his stammer, Edred thought he couldn't be a teacher. So, he joined the Colonial Service. In 1929, he became a mycologist and then Assistant Director at the Singapore Botanic Gardens. He stayed there until 1946.

Exploring Malaysian Forests

The forests in Malaysia were being cut down for wood. Edred took many trips there to study different kinds of fungi and plants. This is where he first saw fig trees. He started to reorganize how fig trees were classified based on how they reproduced.

From 1934 to 1938, he traveled a lot in Malaysia. He found many new plant species. At this time, some people questioned the value of the Botanic Gardens. To show how important the collections were, Edred wrote a huge, two-volume book called "Wayside Trees of Malaya." This book helped amateur naturalists identify trees in the region. It took many years of hard work and combined his own knowledge with that of other scientists.

Monkey Helpers

Edred even found a unique way to collect specimens from tall trees. He trained monkeys, usually used for collecting coconuts, to climb the trees and gather samples for him!

During World War II

In 1942, during World War II, Japan took over Singapore. Edred tried to join the local volunteer army, but a bite from one of his collecting monkeys prevented him from joining.

The Japanese leaders knew that Edred was important for protecting the Botanic Gardens. The Japanese Emperor Hirohito loved orchids and agreed to let Edred stay at his post. While most British people were held in crowded prison camps, Edred was allowed to live outside. He had to wear a red star because the Japanese saw him as an enemy.

Some people accused him of helping the enemy. But in reality, he only cooperated enough to keep the valuable plant collections safe. He also secretly brought food and other supplies to people in the prison camps. He later wrote a book about his experiences during the war.

After Singapore

Working for UNESCO

After the war, Edred returned to England. Two years later, he went to South America to work for UNESCO. He planned to set up a research center there, but it didn't work out.

The Durian Theory

During this time, he developed his most important scientific idea: the Durian Theory. This theory explained how forests evolved into their current forms. It was based on observations of unusual features in tropical plants in Malaysia.

For example, he noticed fruits with fleshy parts around the seeds, or fruits with distinct black and red colors. He believed these features were very old, from the earliest plants. He thought that short, thick trees with big leaves were older than tall, thin trees with many branches. He suggested that trees grew taller over time to protect themselves from animals eating them on the ground. This increase in height also led to many new kinds of life in the tree canopy.

Return to Cambridge

In 1949, Edred Corner returned to England. He became a lecturer at the Botany School in Cambridge. Here, he could study the plants and fungi he had collected in Singapore. He traveled to Bougainville in 1960 and the Solomon Islands in 1965 to study fig trees.

He retired in 1973 as an Emeritus Professor. Even in retirement, he continued to publish many scientific papers, mostly on fungi.

Contributions to Mycology

Studying Fungi

Edred Corner started his career studying tiny fungi. He later focused on fungi that cause wood to rot, like Phellinus noxius, which is important for the economy. He also studied the structure of fungal cells.

He made big improvements in how we classify coral-shaped fungi. Before him, many different fungi were grouped together. Corner showed that many of them belonged to different groups entirely. He used spore characteristics to show that some coral fungi are closely related to other types of fungi.

Understanding Fungal Development

Corner believed it was important to understand how fungi grow and develop. He realized you couldn't just look at one stage of a fungus. His most important discovery about fungal development was understanding the role of the basidium, a part of the fungus that produces spores.

He also wrote many detailed books about large groups of fungi found in Southeast Asia. His work on boletes (a type of mushroom) led to the discovery of 123 new species. These books have helped scientists around the world understand tropical fungi and the huge variety of life in tropical ecosystems.

His collections of fungi, notes, and illustrations are kept at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh. Other collections are at Cambridge or in the United States.

Personal Life

In 1939, Edred Corner married Sheila Kavanagh Bailey. They had a son, John, born in Singapore in 1941, and two daughters, Stephanie and Dorothy. They later divorced in 1952. In 1953, he remarried Helga Dinesen Sondergaard.

In his later years, Edred's eyesight and physical abilities declined. By 1983, he could no longer use a microscope. However, his mind remained sharp until he passed away in 1996.

His son, John, later wrote a book about his father's life and their relationship.

Named After Him

Even though Edred Corner reportedly didn't like naming new species after people, several species and even two genera (groups of species) of fungi are named after him. These include Corneroboletus and Corneroporus. About 30 plant species are also named in his honor, such as Anisophyllea corneri and Calamus corneri.

Awards and Honors

• Honorary Member of the British Mycological Society
• Honorary Member of the Mycological Society of America
• Darwin Medal (1960)
• Founder's Medal of the Royal Geographical Society (1966)
• Linnean Medal (1970)
• Japanese International Prize for Biology (1985)

See also

• Category:Taxa named by E. J. H. Corner