David Catcheside

{{Short description|British plant geneticist (1907–1994)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} {{Infobox scientist | honorific_suffix = [[Fellow of the Royal Society|FRS]] | image =  | birth_name = | birth_date = {{birth date |1907|05|31|df=yes}} | birth_place = [[Hampshire]], [[England]] | death_date = {{death date and age |1994|06|01|1907|05|31|df=yes}} | death_place = [[Harare]], [[Zimbabwe]] | fields = Plant genetics | workplaces = King's College London, [[University of Cambridge]], [[University of Adelaide]], [[University of Birmingham]], [[Australian National University]] | education = [[Strand School]], [[King's College London]] | known_for = Evidence of parasynapsis in ''Oenothera''  |}}

'''David Guthrie Catcheside''' [[Fellow of the Royal Society|FRS]] (31 May 1907 – 1 June 1994) was a British plant geneticist.

==Life== He was educated at [[Strand School]] and [[King's College London]] (BSc).<ref name=AAS>{{cite web|title=David Guthrie Catcheside 1907-1994|url=http://www.asap.unimelb.edu.au/bsparcs/aasmemoirs/catcheside.htm|website=[[Australian Academy of Science]]|accessdate=15 March 2016}}</ref> He was a Lecturer in Botany at [[King's College London]] from 1933 to 1936, and at the [[University of Cambridge]] from 1937 to 1950. He was made a [[Fellow of the Royal Society]] in 1951. He was also a [[King's College London#Fellowship of King's College|Fellow of King's College London]] and a Fellow of [[Trinity College, Cambridge]].<ref name=AAS/> He was Professor of Genetics at the [[University of Adelaide]] from 1952 to 1955, Professor of Microbiology at the [[University of Birmingham]] from 1956 to 1964, and Professor of Genetics at the [[Australian National University]] from 1964 to 1972.<ref>‘CATCHESIDE, David Guthrie’, Who Was Who, A & C Black, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing plc, 1920–2016</ref> He attempted to do research in what was then [[Rhodesia]] but was deported by the [[Ian Smith]] regime for supporting political rights for the indigenous black population. After independence, the new government of [[Zimbabwe]] invited him to return to the country and pursue his research in 1980. He moved to Zimbabwe in October of 1980, and began researching plant genetics in the region of [[Mashonaland]].<ref>The Last Days of White Rhodesia by Denis Cecil Hills Chatto & Windus, 1981</ref> He lived in Zimbabwe until his death of natural causes at his home in Harare in 1994.<ref>Flora Zambesiaca: Mozambique, Malawi, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Botswana : [Flora Terrarum Zambesii Aquis Conjunctarum].</ref>

== Studies == In 1931, David Catcheside proposed the idea that there is evidence of [[parasynapsis]] within ''[[Oenothera]]'' plants, based on their chromosomal arrangement.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Catcheside|first=D. G.|date=1931-01-01|title=Critical Evidence of Parasynapsis in Oenothera|jstor=81678|journal=Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Containing Papers of a Biological Character|volume=109|issue=761|pages=165–184|doi=10.1098/rspb.1931.0075|bibcode=1931RSPSB.109..165C|doi-access=free}}</ref>

==Recognition== He was elected an International Member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences in 1974.<ref>{{Cite web |title=NAS member page for David Catcheside |url=https://www.nasonline.org/directory-entry/d-g-catcheside-dhwumb/ |access-date=2026-02-15 |website=NAS Member Directory}}</ref> The D.G. Catcheside Prize, awarded by the [[Genetics Society of Australia]] to the top doctoral student in the field of genetics, was named for him.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.genetics.org.au/awards/|title=Genetics Society of Australia /Awards|access-date=25 January 2018}}</ref>

==Bibliography== {{cite book|title=Mosses of South Australia|author=D. G. Catcheside MA, DSc, FAA, FRS|series=Handbooks of the Flora and Fauna of South Australia|publisher=D. J. Woolman, Government Printer, South Australia|date=1980}}

==References== {{reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Catcheside, David Guthrie}} [[Category:1907 births]] [[Category:1994 deaths]] [[Category:People educated at the Strand School]] [[Category:Alumni of King's College London]] [[Category:Fellows of King's College London]] [[Category:British fellows of the Royal Society]] [[Category:Academics of King's College London]] [[Category:Academics of the University of Cambridge]] [[Category:British emigrants to Zimbabwe]] [[Category:Fellows of Trinity College, Cambridge]] [[Category:Academic staff of the University of Adelaide]] [[Category:Academics of the University of Birmingham]] [[Category:Academic staff of the Australian National University]] [[Category:Fellows of the Australian Academy of Science]] [[Category:Foreign associates of the National Academy of Sciences]]