John Griffith Vaughan

Background

John Griffith Vaughan was born on May 5, 1926, in Merthyr Tydfil, Wales, United Kingdom. Throughout his childhood, he would take walking trips in the Brecon Beacons, where he first developed a love of plants.

Education

John Griffith Vaughan attended Cyfarthfa Park Grammar School, from which he went to the Victoria University of Manchester (now the University of Manchester) to study Botany. In 1946 he graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree, a Diploma of Education in 1947, and with a Doctor of Science in 1973. In 1950 he obtained a Master of Science degree from the University of London and a Doctor of Philosophy in 1953.

Career

Following graduation, John Griffith Vaughan spent a short time as a school teacher and then moved into higher education as a lecturer in botany at the then Chelsea Polytechnic which was associated with London University. In 1958 he was appointed as a lecturer in the Department of Biology at Queen Elizabeth College, a college of the university which was beginning its expansion into the teaching of degrees that included botany as an option. He initiated the degree courses in botany and during the growth of the department, he remained for several years as the senior botanist, eventually becoming Reader.

His early research was on the cellular structure of stem apices, but after his appointment at Queen Elizabeth College, he established research programs in two main areas - chemotaxonomy of plants (the use of the chemicals they contain as an aid in their classification) and seed structure and composition. The two were in fact closely related as Vaughan chose the analysis of seed proteins as a taxonomic tool. Among the first to use the newly developing electrophoretic methods for the separation and partial characterization of proteins, he applied this technique to detailed studies of the taxonomic relationships among several Brassica species, for example, mustard, rapeseed and cabbage types, based on the identification of the different storage and other proteins of their seeds. In 1976 he was commissioned to act as senior editor of The Biology and Chemistry of the Cruciferae and of Seed Proteins in 1983.

Because of his expertise as a plant anatomist, he was frequently consulted by seed millers and the food industry to identify plant parts in food and animal feed. His courses on the microscopic identification of the ingredients of food and feed were highly valued by the appropriate industries and by those who attended them. In 1986 he was appointed a professor of Food Microscopy at Queen Elizabeth College (now a part of King's College London). In the 1990s he further expanded his interests in microscopy as applied in the study of foods and participated in research on wheat-grain components and bread doughs.

After his retirement from King's College in 1991, Vaughan carried out much of the research for his last two books at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, close to his home in Petersham.

Achievements

• John Griffith Vaughn was best known as an expert in seed science, which links the fields of botany and nutrition. He was awarded the Doctor of Science degree by Manchester University.

Works

More photos

• book

  • Biology and Chemistry of the Cruciferae

    (Chapters of this book include: Systematic and Geographica...)

    1976
  • The Oxford Book of Health Foods

    (The Oxford Book of Health Foods begins with an account of...)

    2003
  • The New Oxford Book of Food Plant

    (The New Oxford Book of Food Plants overflows with informa...)

    1997
  • The Structure and Utilization of Oil Seeds 1970
  • Food Microscopy 1979

Personality

John Griffith Vaughan was a notably kind, friendly and compassionate man. He was an unassuming and approachable man, who loved to talk and had an extensive circle of friends. A keen collector of botanical postage stamps, he also enjoyed lunching at the Athenaeum.

Interests

• travel, gardening

Connections

On August 8, 1953, John Griffith Vaughan married Rita Cocksedge. They had two children: Anthony and Sian Vaughan Macmillan.

Spouse:

Rita Cocksedge

Son:

Anthony Vaughan

Daughter:

Sian Vaughan Macmillan

colleague:

Catherine Geissler

References

• Contemporary Authors
  1998