Ernest R. Sears

Ernest Robert Sears (October 15, 1910, Bethel, Polk County, Oregon – February 15, 1991) was an American geneticist, botanist, pioneer of plant genetics, and leading expert on wheat cytogenetics. Sears and Sir Ralph Riley (1924–1999) are perhaps the two most important founders of chromosome engineering in plant breeding.

Biography After graduating from high school in 1928, Sears graduated in 1932 with a B.S. in agriculture from Oregon State University. At Harvard University he graduated in genetics with an M.A. in 1932 and a Ph.D. in 1936. Upon graduation he became a geneticist with the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) at the University of Missouri, where he worked on wheat cytogenics (as well as wheat evolution, phylogeny, and systematics) for the next 55 years until his death.

Sears was a pioneer of methods of transferring agriculturally desirable genes into cultivated wheat from its wild relatives. Notably, he did important work on wheat genes for resistance to powdery mildew, common bunt, wheat leaf rust, and stem rust. He was the author or coauthor of more than 100 articles in refereed journals, as well as 6 book chapters.

He married in 1936 Caroline Fredericka Eichorn (1912–2001). His first marriage produced one son. After divorcing his first wife, he married in 1950 Liese Maria ("Lotti" or "Lottie") Steinitz (1916–1995).

Awards and honors 1951 — Stevenson Award of the American Society of Agronomy 1953 — Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science 1958 — Hoblitzelle Award for Research in Agricultural Sciences 1964 — Member of the National Academy of Sciences 1970 — Honorary D.Sc. from the University of Göttingen 1978–1979 — President of the Genetics Society of America 1986 — Wolf Prize in Agriculture (shared with Ralph Riley for research done independently) 1991 — Carl Sprengel Agronomic Research Award of the American Society of Agronomy

Selected publications

(See Agropyron.)