Robert S. Dickey

Robert S. Dickey (18 January 1921 in Riverside – 1 July 1991 in Prescott)[1] was an American phytopathologist, professor emeritus of Plant Pathology at the Cornell University and the namesake of the bacterial genus Dickeya.

He also was the recipient of a Silver Star for actions while serving in the 39th Infantry Regiment of the U.S. Army during World War II.

Education

Dickey attended public schools in Riverside, California. In 1941, he earned an A.A. degree from the Riverside Junior College.[1]

Dickey earned a BS degree in plant science in 1948,[2] and in 1954 earned a PhD in plant pathology on the thesis Studies of the Longevity of Agrobacterium Tumefaciens (Smith and Townsend) Conn in the Soil, both at the University of California, Berkeley.[3]

Phytopathology

In 1952, Dickey became an assistant professor and extension agent on the subject of cereal, potato, and forage crop diseases at the Cornell University, where in 1954 he became the project leader of the extension project on plant pathology, a position he retained until 1958.[1] From 1959—after the retirement of Walter H. Burkholder—until his retirement in 1987, he held a research/teaching position on bacterial plant diseases.[1]

From 1970 to 1987, he also worked for the Department of Plant Pathology at the Pennsylvania State University, as member of the graduate faculty and, from 1974 onward, as adjunct professor.[1]

Research

Dickey published papers in multiple scientific journals, such as Phytopathology,[4][5] the Annual Review of Phytopathology,[6] and the International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology,[7][8] as well as in the first volume of Bergey's Manual of Systematic Bacteriology.[9]

Much, though not all, of his research was focused on the genus Erwinia.[1] The new genus Dickeya was named after him in 2005 for his research on the "Erwinia chrysanthemi complex".[lower-alpha 1] Erwinia chrysanthemi[lower-alpha 2] is one of the species reassigned to the new genus.[10]

He also researched the wilt disease Pseudomonas caryophylli[lower-alpha 3] causes on carnation, during which he and C. W. D. Brathwaite discovered the synergy between P. caryophylli and Corynebacterium species on carnation, a discovery published in 1970 in Phytopathology, in the paper Synergism between Pseudomonas caryophylli and a Species of Corynebacterium.[12][13]

Military service

Dickey served in the 9th Infantry Division of the U.S. army from September 1942 to January 1946.[1] In November 1944, he was awarded with a Silver Star Medal for actions during operations in Germany on 13 October of the same year.[14]

Notes
  1. The strains considered at the time to belong to P. chrysanthemi or B. paradisiaca.[10]
  2. Or Pectobacterium chrysanthemi. Both are considered synonymous to the current scientific name Dickeya dadantii.[11]
  3. Now Burkholderia caryophylli

References
  1. Nelson, P.E.; Horst, R.K. "Cornell University Faculty Memorial Statement". Cornell University Library. Cornell University. Retrieved 30 March 2016.
  2. Register - University of California, Volume 2. University of California, Berkeley. 1949. p. 34. Retrieved 30 March 2016.
  3. The Ninety-First Commencement: 1954. University of California, Berkeley. 1954. p. 58. Retrieved 30 March 2016.
  4. Dickey, Robert S. (1979). "Erwinia chrysanthemi: A Comparative Study of Phenotypic Properties of Strains from Several Hosts and Other Erwinia Species". Phytopathology. 69 (4): 324–329. doi:10.1094/Phyto-69-324.
  5. Dickey, Robert S.; Zumoff, Cathy H. (1987). "Bacterial Leaf Blight of Syngonium Caused by a Pathovar of Xanthomonas campestris". Phytopathology. 77 (9): 1257–1262. doi:10.1094/Phyto-77-1257.
  6. Nelson, P E; Dickey, R S (September 1970). "Histopathology of Plants Infected with Vascular Bacterial Pathogens". Annual Review of Phytopathology. 8 (1): 259–280. doi:10.1146/annurev.py.08.090170.001355.
  7. Dickey, R. S.; Victoria, J. I. (1 January 1980). "Taxonomy and Emended Description of Strains of Erwinia Isolated from Musa paradisiaca Linnaeus". International Journal of Systematic Bacteriology. 30 (1): 129–134. doi:10.1099/00207713-30-1-129.
  8. Dickey, R. S.; Zumoff, C. H. (1 October 1988). "Emended Description of Enterobacter cancerogenus comb. nov. (Formerly Erwinia cancerogena)". International Journal of Systematic Bacteriology. 38 (4): 371–374. doi:10.1099/00207713-38-4-371.
  9. Elliott, R. A.; Dickey, R. S. (1984). "Genus VII. Erwinia Winslow, Broadhurst, Buchanan, Krumwiede, Rogers and Smith 1920". In Krieg, N. R.; Holt, J. G. (eds.). Bergey's Manual of Systematic Bacteriology, vol. 1 (1 ed.). pp. 469–476.
  10. Samson, R; Legendre, JB; Christen, R; Fischer-Le Saux, M; Achouak, W; Gardan, L (July 2005). "Transfer of Pectobacterium chrysanthemi (Burkholder et al. 1953) Brenner et al. 1973 and Brenneria paradisiaca to the genus Dickeya gen. nov. as Dickeya chrysanthemi comb. nov. and Dickeya paradisiaca comb. nov. and delineation of four novel species, Dickeya dadantii sp. nov., Dickeya dianthicola sp. nov., Dickeya dieffenbachiae sp. nov. and Dickeya zeae sp. nov". International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology. 55 (Pt 4): 1415–27. doi:10.1099/ijs.0.02791-0. PMID 16014461.
  11. Grenier, A.-M.; Duport, G.; Pages, S.; Condemine, G.; Rahbe, Y. (3 March 2006). "The Phytopathogen Dickeya dadantii (Erwinia chrysanthemi 3937) Is a Pathogen of the Pea Aphid". Applied and Environmental Microbiology. 72 (3): 1956–1965. doi:10.1128/AEM.72.3.1956-1965.2006. PMC 1393189. PMID 16517643.
  12. Powell, N. T. (1979). "Chapter 6: Internal Synergisms among Organisms Inducing Disease". In Horsfall, James G.; Cowling, Ellis B. (eds.). Plant Disease: An Advanced Treatise: Volume IV How Pathogens Induce Disease. Academic Press, Inc. p. 127. Retrieved 30 March 2016.
  13. D. Brathwaite, Chelston W.; Dickey, Robert S. (1970). "Synergism between Pseudomonas caryophylli and a Species of Corynebacterium" (PDF). Phytopathology. 60 (7): 1046–1051. doi:10.1094/Phyto-60-1046. Retrieved 30 March 2016.
  14. "Valor awards for Robert S. Dickey". Military Times: Hall of Valor. Military Times. Retrieved 28 March 2016.
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