Leonard La Cour

Leonard Francis La Cour (28 July 1907 – 3 November 1984) was a British cytologist particularly known for his work on plant chromosomes. He spent nearly all of his career at the John Innes Horticultural Institution (1922–72), where, despite a lack of any formal scientific training – he left school at fourteen and never attended university – he rose to senior principal scientific officer. After retiring from the John Innes institute, he held an honorary chair at the University of East Anglia (1973–78). His research encompassed studies of the cell nucleus and chromosome structure and function, using light and electron microscopy. He developed novel cytological methods and published a generally well-received laboratory manual, The Handling of Chromosomes, with his frequent collaborator, C. D. Darlington.

Biography He was born on 28 July 1907 in the Borough of Lambeth, south London, to Maude (née Coomber) and Francis Lacour, both of whom worked at Buckingham Palace. His father, a chef, died when he was an infant, and his mother remarried and moved to the Isle of Bute; he was brought up by his grandmother at Merton Park in Surrey. She ran a tobacconist's, and they lived above the shop.