Lilian Hawker

Lilian Edith Hawker (19 May 1908 – 5 February 1991)[1] was a British mycologist, known for her work on fungal physiology, particularly spore production.

[3] Her first research paper appeared in 1930, based on work she completed as an undergraduate on reproduction in the yew tree.

[1][2] Around this time, Walter Buddin at Reading also interested her (and Terence Ingold) in collecting fungi in the wild,[4][5] a lifelong pursuit.

Her career was interrupted by the Second World War; she remained at Imperial's London site teaching under difficult conditions,[1] while Brown and others from the department moved to Slough.

[6] Michael J. Carlile comments on her relatively slow promotion at Imperial, despite being highly active in both research and teaching, speculating that it might have been due to her not having contacts.

[2][9] After her retirement in 1973, she held an emeritus professorship,[1] She participated in the university's studies of proposals for a Severn Barrage including as co-editor of the report.

[2] A "conscientious",[2] "enthusiastic and committed"[1] teacher, Hawker's contributions to university-level education in mycology have been described as "impressive".

She visited the United States in 1965, investigating how practical laboratory work – a particular enthusiasm of hers – fit into university-level education.

[1][2] The following symposium (1974) in Utah was dedicated to her, as well as the American plant pathologist David Gottlieb, and in 1988, Transactions of the British Mycological Society honoured her reaching the age of eighty.

At the end of the 1950s, she abandoned this line of research in favour of observing the ultrastructural changes that occur during the production and germination of spores, and published prolifically on this topic from 1963 until her retirement.

[2] In the mid-1930s she also researched fungal diseases affecting plants cultivated for their flowers, especially narcissus and gladiolus,[1][2] for example, basal rot caused by Fusarium species.