Ronald Ernst Beschel

Roland Ernst Beschel (9 August 1928, Salzburg, Austria – 22 January 1971, Kingston, Ontario) was an Austrian botanist, lichenologist, professor, and herbarium director, known for his famous doctoral thesis and subsequent research on lichenometry.

Beschel received in 1950 a doctorate in botany and physical geography from the University of Innsbruck, with a pioneering thesis on the ecology and growth of lichens and the use of lichen measurements to give dates for rock surface exposure.

An ardent believer in the fundamental importance of systematics in biology, Beschel not only restored Fowler's historic collection but completely revitalized the herbarium. Aided by assistant curators Garwood and Zavitz, he added almost 60,000 specimens to the herbarium, including extensive collections from the Canadian arctic, Greenland, Scandinavia and Russia. He died suddenly at his home in Kingston at the age of 42. (His successor as director of the Fowler Herbarium was Adele Crowder. )