Kenneth Wells, 24 July 1927–19 July 2016

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

We thank Ellinor K. Wells and to Heidi Booth (née Wells) for providing background information, including a link to a University of California, Davis, video interview with Ken: https://video.ucdavis.edu/media/Kenneth+Wells/0_g9srqz54/25823622, and for reviewing a near-final draft of this memorial. Meredith Blackwell provided insightful reviews as well as the unpublished autobiography that Ken had written when an MSA travel award in his name was first established (SUPPLEMENTARY FIG. 1). We thank Meredith for the strategic reminders that encouraged us to reflect on the life and times of a man whom we appreciated and admired.

Figure 1. Clockwise from upper left: Ken Wells photographed in the 1950s, Wells developing electron micrographs in the 1960s and Wells regaling students in 1977 on the Mendocino Foray, which he and Harry Thiers at San Francisco State University initiated in the 1970s and which has grown to include UC Berkeley, Stanford University, California State University, East Bay, and California State University, Fresno. Photos from 1950s and 1960s provided by Heidi and Ellinor Wells, photo from 1977 by J. Taylor.

Supplemental data

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed on the publisher’s Web site.

Notes

¹ How times have changed; the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) now sponsors the Golden Goose Awards, which “…recognize the tremendous human and economic benefits of federally funded research by highlighting examples of seemingly obscure studies that have led to major breakthroughs and resulted in significant societal impact.” In fact, in 2017, Joyce Longcore won a Golden Goose Award for her systematic work on Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis, the chytrid responsible for amphibian decline.