Cambridge, United Kingdom
June, 2008
Pioneering plant breeder John
Bingham CBE, FRS yesterday (23 June) officially opened a new
laboratory named after him at the
National Institute of Agricultural Botany (NIAB) in
Huntingdon Road, Cambridge.
Mr Bingham’s innovative approach to plant breeding contributed
considerably to establishing winter wheat as the mainstay of UK
crop production. Mr Bingham, who was based at the Plant Breeding
Institute, Cambridge for 40 years, lives in Norfolk where he
farms.
The John Bingham Laboratory provides the latest state of the art
facilities for NIAB’s cutting edge research projects. It was
recently refurbished and equipped with a grant from the NIAB
Trust
NIAB’s Research Director, Prof Andy Greenland, said the lab was
named after Mr Bingham in recognition of his considerable
contribution to wheat breeding in the UK, an activity which is
at the heart of a good part of the research undertaken in the
new lab.
He said: “John Bingham is a regular visitor at NIAB and his
experience and knowledge continues to help us and many others in
the breeding community. It is a great honour for NIAB to
recognise his continuing involvement by naming our research
facility after him.”
Mr Bingham said he considered it an honour to have the NIAB
laboratory named after him, and that it was a tribute to the
work carried out by his team at the Plant Breeding Institute.
He was introduced by Dr Richard Summers, who was part of Mr
Bingham’s team at the PBI, and now leads Cereal Breeding at
RAGT, a French company which operates from the former PBI site.
Mr Bingham joined the PBI in 1954 where he worked until 1987
when the plant breeding programmes at PBI were privatized. He
continued his plant breeding career at Plant Breeding
International Cambridge Ltd until June 1991. During his time at
PBIC he saw the establishment of cereal breeding stations in
France and Germany. After retirement he continued to work as a
consultant for much of the 1990’s.
Initially appointed to work on breeding wheat for bread making
quality John Bingham went on to become the pre-eminent cereal
breeder of his time. He produced many commercially successful
and landmark varieties. Over 35 varieties bred by his team have
been recommended, including Maris Huntsman, Virtue, Avalon,
Norman, Galahad, Mercia, Rendezvous, Riband and Beaver.
Throughout his career John Bingham always strove to integrate
relevant plant science research onto practical breeding and has
had a lifelong interest in the physiology of the wheat plant. In
addition to his legacy of improved wheat varieties, he has been
responsible for mentoring a majority of wheat breeders active in
the UK today.
Since 2006, the number of research scientists at NIAB have
tripled from about 10-12 to a group of 36 as demands for their
scientific skills have increased with projects based in the UK
and collaborative work overseas. Prof Wayne Powell, NIAB Chief
Executive, and Prof Greenland, described how the new laboratory
marked a turning point for their cutting edge research projects.
A tour of the laboratory was held following a strawberry tea. |
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