Robert Haynes

Robert Hall Haynes, OC, FRSC (August 27, 1931 – December 22, 1998) was a Canadian geneticist and biophysicist. He was the Distinguished Research Professor in the Department of Biology at York University. Haynes was best known for his contributions to the study of DNA repair and mutagenesis, and for helping promote the concept of terraforming through his invention of the term, ecopoiesis.

For the Jamaican cricketer, see Robert Haynes (cricketer).

Haynes was one of the earliest geneticists to recognize the fundamental biologic importance of the vulnerability of DNA to damage and therefore the central role of DNA repair processes. As he noted, “DNA is composed of rather ordinary molecular subunits, which certainly are not endowed with any peculiar kind of quantum mechanical stability. Its very chemical vulgarity makes it prey to all the chemical horrors and misfortune that might befall any such molecule in a warm aqueous medium.”[1]

Haynes early life and scientific contributions have been summarized by Kunz et al. (1993)[2] and Kunz and Hanawalt (1999).[3]

Incomplete timeline
  • 1953, Haynes receives a degree in Mathematics and Physics, at the University of Western Ontario.
  • 1957, Ph.D. in Biophysics, UWO
  • 1984, Haynes creates the word ecopoiesis, a term that came to be widely used by writers and some proponents of terraforming and space exploration.
  • 1987, The Genetics Society of Canada creates the Robert H. Haynes Young Scientist Award.
  • 1988, Haynes serves as President of the 16th International Congress of Genetics.
  • 1990, He is made an Officer of the Order of Canada.
  • 1995 Haynes becomes the 104th President of the Royal Society of Canada

Selected publications

Presidential Address
  • Haynes, R.H. (1989), Genetics and the unity of Biology, 31, pp. 1–7

Planetary engineering

References
  1. Haynes, R. H. (1988). Biological context of DNA repair. In “Mechanisms and Consequences of DNA Damage Processing” (E. C. Friedberg and P. C. Hanawalt, eds.), pp. 577-584. Alan R. Liss, NewYork
  2. Kunz BA1, Eckardt-Schupp F, Brendel M.vA Festschrift for Robert H. Haynes. Mutat Res. 1993 Sep;289(1):3-6. PMID 7689160 DOI: 10.1016/0027-5107(93)90124-x
  3. Kunz BA1, Hanawalt PC. In memoriam: robert hall haynes. Environ Mol Mutagen. 1999;33(4):257-265. PMID 10398372 DOI:10.1002/(sici)1098-2280(1999)33:4<257::aid-em1>3.0.co;2-0
Professional and academic associations
Preceded by
John Meisel		 President of the Royal Society of Canada
1995-1997		 Succeeded by
Jean-Pierre Wallot
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