View source for John Alan Elix

{{Short description|Organic chemist, lichenologist}}
{{use dmy dates|date=December 2020}}
{{infobox scientist/wikidata| fetchwikidata=ALL|fields=organic chemistry<br>lichenology<br>taxonomy,<br>plant physiology |suppressfields=occupation}}
{{scholia|Q21339171}}
'''John Alan (Jack) Elix''' (born 1941)<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|last=Cohn|first=Helen|date=2017|title=Elix, John Alan (Jack) - Biographical entry - Encyclopedia of Australian Science|url=https://www.eoas.info/biogs/P005725b.htm|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=2020-12-11|website=www.eoas.info|language=en-gb}}</ref> emeritus professor in chemistry at the [[Australian National University]],<ref name="prof">{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=|title=Professor John Elix|url=https://researchers.anu.edu.au/researchers/elix-ja|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=2020-12-11|website=researchers.anu.edu.au|language=en-US}}</ref><ref name="rgate">{{Cite web|title=John ELIX {{!}} Emeritus Professor {{!}} DSc {{!}} Australian National University, Canberra {{!}} ANU {{!}} Research School of Chemistry (RSC)|url=https://www.researchgate.net/profile/John_Elix|access-date=2021-01-31|website=ResearchGate|language=en}}</ref> is an organic chemist who has contributed in many fields: [[lichenology]], lichen [[chemotaxonomy]], plant physiology<ref name="prof" /> and biodiversity and natural product chemistry.<ref name="rgate" /> He has authored 2282 species names,<ref>{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=|title=Mycobank:Advanced search (author contains Elix & rank=sp.)|url=https://www.mycobank.org|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=2020-12-12|website=Mycobank}}</ref> and 67 genera<ref>{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=|title=Using an advanced search (author name contains "Elix" AND rank=genus)|url=https://www.mycobank.org|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=2020-12-10|website=www.mycobank.org}}</ref> in the field of [[mycology]]. Elix edited the [[exsiccata]] series ''Lichenes Australasici exsiccati.''<ref>{{cite web |title=Lichenes Australasici exsiccati: IndExs ExsiccataID=828430592 |website=IndExs – Index of Exsiccatae |publisher=Botanische Staatssammlung München |url=https://www.botanischestaatssammlung.de/DatabaseClients/IndExs/Exsiccatae_IndExs_Details.jsp?ExsiccataID=828430592 |access-date=27 July 2024}}</ref>
{{botanist|Elix|inline=yes}}
== Education ==
His first degree, B.Sc., and his Ph.D. were both in organic chemistry from the [[University of Adelaide]]. This was followed by  post-doctoral years at the [[University of Cambridge]] and then a D.Sc. in natural products chemistry from  the [[Australian National University]].<ref>{{Cite web|last=Nash|first=T.H.|date=|title=IAL - Acharius Medallists: Jack Elix|url=http://www.lichenology.org/Awards/Acharius_Elix.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070311001242/http://www.lichenology.org/Awards/Acharius_Elix.html|archive-date=11 March 2007|access-date=2021-01-12|website=www.lichenology.org|url-status=dead}}</ref>
==Career==
Elix spent a post doctoral year in 1966 at Cambridge, returning to Australia in 1967 to a lectureship in chemistry at the [[Australian National University|ANU]].<ref name=":0"/> He retired as professor of chemistry in 2002,<ref name=:0/> becoming professor emeritus.<ref name=rgate/>
By 1975 he had already published several papers on the organic chemistry of lichens,<ref>{{Cite Q|Q104151554}}</ref><ref>{{Cite Q|Q78432536}}</ref><ref>{{Cite Q|Q104151783}}</ref>  and ultimately leading to work on the evolution, taxonomy and phylogeny of lichens.<ref>{{Cite Q|Q51148234|doi-access=free}}</ref><ref>{{Cite Q|Q54800616}}</ref><ref>{{Cite Q|Q35753148}}</ref> For his work on lichens, Elix was awarded the [[Acharius Medal]] in 2004 and the [[Nancy T Burbidge Medal]] in 2015.<ref name=":0" /> He is a prolific author (or coauthor) of new fungal and lichen species, having [[species description|formally described]] about 1147 as of December 2017.<ref name="Lücking 2020">{{cite journal |authorlink=Robert Lücking |last=Lücking |first=Robert |title=Three challenges to contemporaneous taxonomy from a licheno-mycological perspective |journal=Megataxa |volume=1 |issue=1 |year=2020 |doi=10.11646/megataxa.1.1.16 |pages=78–103 [85]}}</ref>
He was honoured in 1997, when lichenologist [[Helge Thorsten Lumbsch]] published ''[[Elixiaceae]]'' which is a [[family (biology)|family]] of [[fungi]] in the order [[Umbilicariales]]. It contains two genera, ''[[Meridianelia]]'', and the [[type genus]], ''[[Elixia (fungus)|Elixia]]'', which is named after John Alan Elix.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Lumbsch |first1=H.T. |year=1997 |title=Systematic studies in the suborder Agyriineae (Lecanorales) |journal=Journal of the Hattori Botanical Laboratory |volume=83 |page=62}}</ref>
He was also honoured again in 2004, with ''[[Melanelixia]]'', which is a [[genus]] of [[foliose lichen]]s in the family [[Parmeliaceae]],<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Blanco |first1=Oscar |last2=Crespo |first2=Ana |last3=Divakar |first3=Pradeep K. |last4=Esslinger |first4=Theodore L. |last5=Hawksworth |first5=David L. |last6=Lumbsch |first6=H. Thorsten |title=''Melanelixia'' and ''Melanohalea'', two new genera segregated from ''Melanelia'' (Parmeliaceae) based on molecular and morphological data |journal=Mycological Research |volume=108 |issue=8 |year=2004 |pages=873–884 |doi=10.1017/S0953756204000723|pmid=15449592 |url=http://nhm2.uio.no/botanisk/lav/RLL/PDF/Blanco%20et%20al.2004Mycological%20Research.pdf}}</ref> and in 2016 with ''[[Astrothelium elixii]]'', a rare [[corticolous lichen|bark-dwelling]] Bolivian lichen.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Flakus |first1=Adam |last2=Kukwa |first2=Martin |last3=Aptroot |first3=André |title=Trypetheliaceae of Bolivia: an updated checklist with descriptions of twenty-four new species |journal=The Lichenologist |volume=48 |issue=6 |year=2016 |doi=10.1017/s0024282915000559 |pages=661–692|doi-access=free }}</ref>
==Selected publications==
*{{Citation | author1=Elix, John A | author2=Ernst-Russell, Karin D | title=A catalogue of standardized thin layer chromatographic data and biosynthetic relationships for lichen substances | publication-date=1993 | publisher=Australian National University | url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/23122500 }}
===See also===
*[[:Category:Taxa named by John Alan Elix]]
==References==
{{reflist}}
== Further reading ==
* {{Citation|author1=Kantvilas, G|title=Lichenological contributions in honour of Jack Elix|publication-date=2001|publisher=J. Cramer|isbn=978-3-443-58057-5|author2=McCarthy, Patrick M. (Patrick Martin), 1955-|author3=Louwhoff, Simone Henrica J. J|author4=Elix, John A|author5=Wirth, V}}
{{Recipients of the Acharius Medal}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Elix, John Alan}}
[[Category:20th-century Australian botanists]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:1941 births]]
[[Category:Academic staff of the Australian National University]]
[[Category:Acharius Medal recipients]]
[[Category:Australian lichenologists]]