John Malcolm Hirst

John Malcolm Hirst (20 April 1921, in Marston Green – 30 December 1997) was a British aerobiologist, known for his invention of the Hirst spore trap, which enabled accurate, routine estimates of spore and pollen concentrations found in the atmosphere. The spore trap was a breakthrough in understanding epidemics of plant disease, identifying airborne allergens, and predicting pollen danger alerts for people with allergic rhinitis. Soon after the invention, many such spore traps were installed by hospitals.

Biography John Malcolm Hirst had a brother who was about five years older. Their father, who was elected a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, died in 1928, thus causing a financial struggle for his widow and their two sons. Both of the sons were educated at Solihull School. In 1944 he took command of a motor launch, giving assistance off the coast of Yugoslavia to partisan forces. for aerobiological research. Hirst thought of a new, more efficient method of aerobiological sampling, which he incorporated into what is now called the "Hirst spore trap". His design was presented to Casella Ltd in 1953 for commercial production. Hirst continually improve his design. Later, Burkard Ltd commercially produced a widely used, more advanced trap using Hirst's improvements. In 1955 Imperial College London awarded Hirst a Ph.D. for his studies on forecasting potato blight. 1970 — Awarded the Research Medal by the Royal Agricultural Society of England 1971 — Elected Chair of the Federation of British Plant Pathologists 1972 — Elected President of the British Mycological Society 1977 — Elected President of the Association of Applied Biologists 1986 — Elected Honorary Member, International Agrobiological Association 1988 — Elected Honorary Member, British Society for Plant Pathology 1991 — Elected Honorary Member, Indian Aerobiological Association 1991–94 — President of the British Aerobiology Federation 1992 — Elected Honorary Member, Association of Applied Biologists 1995 — Elected Honorary Member, British Aerobiology Federation

Selected publications