John Alan Elix

Academic careerFieldsOrganic chemistry
lichenology
taxonomy,
plant physiologyInstitutionsDoctoral studentsSimone Henrica J.J. LouwhoffAuthor abbrev. (botany)Elix

John Alan (Jack) Elix (born 1941)^[1] emeritus professor in chemistry at the Australian National University,^[2][3] is an organic chemist who has contributed in many fields: lichenology, lichen chemotaxonomy, plant physiology^[2] and biodiversity and natural product chemistry.^[3] He has authored 2282 species names,^[4] and 67 genera^[5] in the field of mycology. Elix edited the exsiccata series Lichenes Australasici exsiccati.^[6]

The standard author abbreviation Elix is used to indicate this person as the author when citing a botanical name.^[7]

His first degree, B.Sc., and his Ph.D. were both in organic chemistry from the University of Adelaide. This was followed by post-doctoral years at the University of Cambridge and then a D.Sc. in natural products chemistry from the Australian National University.^[8]

Elix spent a post doctoral year in 1966 at Cambridge, returning to Australia in 1967 to a lectureship in chemistry at the ANU.^[1] He retired as professor of chemistry in 2002,^[1] becoming professor emeritus.^[3]

By 1975 he had already published several papers on the organic chemistry of lichens,^[9][10][11] and ultimately leading to work on the evolution, taxonomy and phylogeny of lichens.^[12][13][14] For his work on lichens, Elix was awarded the Acharius Medal in 2004 and the Nancy T Burbidge Medal in 2015.^[1] He is a prolific author (or coauthor) of new fungal and lichen species, having formally described about 1147 as of December 2017.^[15]

He was honoured in 1997, when lichenologist Helge Thorsten Lumbsch published Elixiaceae which is a family of fungi in the order Umbilicariales. It contains two genera, Meridianelia, and the type genus, Elixia, which is named after John Alan Elix.^[16]

He was also honoured again in 2004, with Melanelixia, which is a genus of foliose lichens in the family Parmeliaceae,^[17] and in 2016 with Astrothelium elixii, a rare bark-dwelling Bolivian lichen.^[18]

• Elix, John A; Ernst-Russell, Karin D (1993), A catalogue of standardized thin layer chromatographic data and biosynthetic relationships for lichen substances, Australian National University

• Category:Taxa named by John Alan Elix

• Kantvilas, G; McCarthy, Patrick M. (Patrick Martin), 1955-; Louwhoff, Simone Henrica J. J; Elix, John A; Wirth, V (2001), Lichenological contributions in honour of Jack Elix, J. Cramer, ISBN 978-3-443-58057-5{{citation}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)