Ramsay, Helen Patricia   (1928 - )

Born 1928;

Helen completed her doctorate in bryophyte genetics in 1966 at Sydney University. No sooner had she submitted her thesis than she and her young family embarked on a trip to the UK where Helen was to take up the Leverhulme Fellowship at Bangor in Wales under Professor Paul Richards. Unbeknown to Helen, Richards was heading overseas; Helen was to see Richards in person again 15 months later. But this did not damper Helen's determination. She established herself in the laboratory and took every opportunity to learn the required skills and techniques to specialise in meiotic cell division in bryophytes.

In 1968 Helen and her family returned to Sydney where Helen took on a tutorship at the University of New South Wales, where she was to remain until she retired from a senior lectureship position in 1984.

She is one of Australia's foremost bryologists, focussing on cytology, taxonomy and distribution checklists, particularly of Bryaceae, Sematophyllaceae and Macromitrium. In her research she collaborated with Australian and overseas bryologists, and she is renowned as a mentor for younger scientists.

Helen has numerous publications focusing on cytological studies in mosses. While mostly concentrated on Australian mosses, it also included mosses from the United Kingdom, Canada and New Zealand.

Her publications include censuses of the mosses of New South Wales, the ACT and Lord Howe Island. The Flora of Australia Project under the Australian Biological Resources Study in Canberra led to further taxonomic revisions and publications including contributions to the first volume on Australian Mosses.

Ramsay has made significant collections of Australian mosses: these are in the National Herbarium of New South Wales and the John Ray Herbarium at the University of New South Wales.

Source: Extracted from: Bryological Times 155 - Special Edition: Women in Bryology (2022)
https://www.eoas.info/biogs/P005604b.htm
Portrait Photo: ex ABN newsletter no. 49

Collecting localities for 'Ramsay, H.' from AVH (2023)

Data from 2,734 specimens