Robert W. Allard

Robert Wayne Allard (September 3, 1919 – March 25, 2003) was an American plant breeder and plant population geneticist who is regarded as one of the leading plant population geneticists of the 20th century. Allard became chair of the genetics department at University of California, Davis in 1967; he was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 1973, and was awarded the DeKalb-Pfizer Distinguished Career Award and the Crop Science Science of America Award. He was honored as the Nilsson-Ehle Lecturer of the Mendelian Society of Sweden and as the Wilhelmine Key lecturer of the American Genetic Association. He also served as president of the Genetics Society of America, the American Genetic Association and the American Society of Naturalists.

As chair of the department of genetics at U.C. Davis he played a major role in bringing Theodosius Dobzhansky and Francisco J. Ayala to the genetics department in the early 1970s. With G. Ledyard Stebbins there as well, the department became preeminent in both plant and animal evolution. He trained 56 doctorate students and more than 100 masters students over his career. Provided by Wikipedia