Helge Napoleon Johnsson (March 7, 1912-1991)

Swedish botanist, geneticist, and researcher in the field of silviculture. Johnsson was the Director of the Tree Breeding Station at Ekebo, Sweden, from the end of 1949 until his retirement on March 31, 1977.

Early Life

Helge Johnsson grew up in Borensberg in the province of Östergötland, Sweden. As the son of Hanna Victoria Boquist and Ture Adolf Johnsson (a Master Gardener and green grocer), he was exposed to the intricacies of botany and plant breeding at an early age. It is probable that as the eldest son Helge was meant to eventually take over the family enterprise, but his ambition and talent allowed him to go much further. In 1936 he received his Bachelor Degree and earned his Masters in 1941. In 1944 he defended his Doctor's Thesis on a species of the grass genus Alopecurus, at Lund University. This can be seen as something of an accomplishment as he was working to earn a living starting in 1937 and was drafted into military service from 1939 to 1941.

Career

On April 1, 1938 Helge joined the staff of the Association for Forest Tree Breeding at the main station at Ekebo outside of Svalöv. He was mainly concerned with the practical work of grafting, controlled crossing, sowing, and planting. Initially only broadleaved trees were studied and polyploidy breeding took priority, however in 1942 a national conifer breeding program began. Since Dr. Johnsson was able to work at the same institute from 1938 until 1977 his scientific output has unusual continuity and concentration on long term problems. The first of his eight publications on Populus appeared in 1940 and the last in 1976. The first of his twelve publications on Betula was published in 1939 and the last in 1976.

Helge Johnsson's publications on aspen and birch in the nineteenforties were the first to deal with the prospects for increased forest production by polyploidy and species crosses and by a synthesis of both these routes. They attracted great attention, brought thier author international attention and qualified him for the Chairs of Forest Botany (1946) and Forest Genetics (1947) in Stockholm.

At the end of 1949 Johnsson was made Director of the Institute at Ekebo and proceeded to take charge of the breeding of Scots Pine in southern Sweden and aquaint himself with one of the two most commercially important tress of Sweden. During the years 1953 to 1976 he published eighteen papers on different aspects of breeding Scots Pine. Including, flowering and seed production in grafts and seedlings, progeny tests after controlled and open pollination, seed orchards, disease resistance, and quality problems. He was one of the panel of authors of the handbook "Breeding in Sweden" (1951), in the same year he collaborated with Enar Andersson and Åke Gustafsson in the publication of "Avkommeprövning i skogsbrukets tjänst" which set down procedures for testing the clones included in the first generation of seed orchards.

Due to the need to be more responsive to the needs of the forest industry in northern Sweden it was decided to move the headquarters of the association to Uppsala in 1959. At that time Dr. Johnsson was appointed Director of the Southern District and Chief Scientist for the whole organization. With further reorganization in 1967 the name of the Association for Forest Breeding was changed to the Institute for Forest Tree Improvement. As a result of the reorganization a special grant was made that made possible his attachement as Scientific Lecturer and Tutor to the Genetics Institute of the University of Lund, this also allowed him to continue to working at Ekebo. He was also granted the title and position of Professor by the Swedish Government.

His long and successfull career brought Helge Johnsson to a leading position among the world's forest tree breeders, he made significant contributions to cytology, geneology, evolution, and physiological genetics. The methods of forest tree breeding were treated in some 30 papers and the late Klaus Stern emphasized Helge's critical attitude and pointed to his skills in field work as well as in the laboratory, and in mathematical computation and statistical evaluation. He was elected a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Agriculture and Forestry in 1956, and of the Finnish Forestry Society in 1962. He was executive member of the Co-operation Committee for Forest Tree Breeding and Genetics during the years 1941-1971, a delegate to the International Poplar Commission 1947-1956, President of the Society for the Promotion of Oak Cultivation 1957-1976, Co-editor of the scientific publication Silvae Genetica 1953-1977. He was also awarded The Royal Swedish Patriotic Society Gold Medal.

Published Scientific Papers

1938 års förädlingsarbete med högkromosomig asp. S.P.T. 42, 6-10, Summary in Engl. (1939); Fältförsöksmetoder vid växtförädling av skogsträd. S.P.T. 42, 79-88, Summary in Engl. (1939); En skogsodlingsupfinning. (with N. Sylven) S.P.T. 42, 509-512, Summary in Engl. (1939); Colchicinbehandling som metod vid växtförädling av skogsträd. (with C. Eklundh) S.P.T. 43, 10 ps., Summary in Engl. (1940); Cytological studies of diploid and triploid Populus Tremula and crosses between them. Hereditas 26, 321-352, (1940); Växtförädling av björk - mål och medel. S.P.T. 43 - 44, 27 ps., Summary in Engl. (1940-41); Erfarenheter och resultat under tre års aspförädling vid Föreningen för växtförädling av skogsträd. S.P.T. 44, 9 ps. (1941); Cytological studies in the genus Alopecurus Lunds Univ. Årsskrift, N.F., Avd. 2, Bd. 37, Nr. 3, 1-43, Lund/Leipzig (1941); Die Chromosomenzahl von Carpinus betulus L. Hereditas 28, 228-230 (1942); Cytological studies of triploid progenies of Populus Tremula. Hereditas 28, 306-312 (1942); Generative och vegetativ förökning av Populus Tremula. Sv. Bot. Tidskr. 36, 177-199 (1942); Poppelkulturer. Intryk från en studieresa till Belgien och synpunkter på poppel i svenskt skogsbruk. S.P.T. 46, 208-214 (1943 ); Massupträdande av frostkärna hos bok under 1942. (with T. Nilsson) S.P.T. 47, 8 ps. (1944); Meiotic abberations and sterility in Alopecurus myosuroides Huds., Thesis. Hereditas 30, 469-566 (1944); Triploidy in Betula alba L. Bot. Not. 97, 85-96 (1944); Interspecific hybredization within the genus Betula. Hereditas 31, 163-176 (1945); The triploid progeny of the cross diploid X tetraploid Populus Tremula. Hereditas 31, 411-440 (1945); Chromosome number of the progeny from the cross triploid X tetraploid Populus Tremula. Hereditas 31, 500-501 (1945); Chromosome numbers of twin plants of Quercus robur and Fagus silvatica. Hereditas 32, 469-472 (1946); Progeny of triploid Betula verrucosa. Bot. Not. 99, 285-290 (1946); Tio års aspförädling vid Föreningen för växtförädling av skogsträd. S.P.T. 50, 10 ps. (1947); Forest tree breeding in Sweden. Pulp and Paper Res. Inst. of Canada 48, 1-10 (1947); Björk, asp och poppel från Nordamerika. En reseberättelse. S.P.T. 51, 15 ps., Summary in Engl. (1948); Hereditary precocious flowering in Betula verrucosa and Betula pubescens. Hereditas 35 112-114 (1949); Studies on birch species hybrids. Hereditas 35, 115-135 (1949); Experiences and results of tens years breeding experiments at the Swedish Forest Tree Breeding Association. Proc. III World For. Congress Helsinki, 1949, No. 3, 126-130, Helsinki (1950); On the C0- and C1 generations in Alnus glutinosa. Hereditas 36, 205-219 (1950); Beskärning och formning av fröträden i plantager. S.S.T. 48, 188-205 (1950); Förslag till program för anläggning av fröplantager. (with E. Andersson and E. Stefansson) S.S.T. 48, 188-205 (1950); Species Hybrids in Forest Tree Breeding. Proc. VII. Int. Bot. Congr. Stockholm 1950, 302-303, Stockholm (1953); Avkommer av masurbjörk. S.S.T. 49, 34-45 (1951); Avkommeprövning av björk - prelimenära resultat från unga försöksplanteringar. S.P.T. 50, 1-30, Summary in Engl. (1951); Avkommeprövning i skogsbrukets tjänst. (with E. Andersson and Å. Gustafsson) Norrl. Skogsv. förb. Tidskr. 1951, 373-409 (1951); Skogsträdsförädlingens historia. Svensk Växtförädling II, 399-412, Stockholm (1951); Skogsträdsförädlingens metoder. (Ibidem, 489-518). Skogsträdsförädlingens hortikulturella och tekniska hjälpmedel. (Ibidem, 583-606). Lövträd. (Ibidem, 759-827). Ungdomsutveklingen hos stjälek, druvek och rödek. S.S.T. 50, 168-193 (1952); Hybridaspen och dess odling. Skogen 39, 123-124 (1952); Hur stort kan trädet bli? Skogen 39, 123-124 (1952); Einige Fragestellungen der forstlichen Nachkommenschaftsprufung. Z. Forstgen. 1, 2-8, Summary in Engl. (1952); Hybridaspens ungdomsutveckling och ett försök till framtidsprognos. S.S.T. 51, 73-96 (1953); Development of diploid and triploid Populus tremula during the juvenile period. Z. Forstgen. 2, 73-77 (1953); Kottutveckling och fröbeskaffenhet hos ympträd av tall. (with C.L. Kiellander and E. Stefansson) S.S.T. 51, 358-389 (1953); Utvecklingen i 15-åriga försöksödlingar av tall i relation till proveniens och odlingsort. S.S.T. 53, 57-88 (1955); Från Föreningens för växtförädling av skogsträds verksamhet. En översikt över uppnådda resultat och pågående arbeten. S.P.T. 58, 165-176 (1955); Tallens rastyper i Sydsverige. (with A. Persson and G. Eriksson) S.S.T. 54, 54-60 (1956); Auto- and allotriploid Betula-families, derived from colchicine treatment. Z. Forstgen. 5, 156-160 (1956); Några data från försökskulturer med nordamerikansk tall. S.S.T. 55, 345-358 (1957); Aktuellt om hybridasp. Skogen 44, 798-799 (1957); Espenholz und Espenzuchtung in Schweden. Holzforschung 11, 209-211 (1957); Groningsmognad och lagringsmognad hos tidigt skördat granfrö. S.S.T. 56, 213-224 (1958); Genetics and breeding of poplars. (Poplars in forestry and land use) FAO Forestry and Forest Products Studies No. 12, 360-394, Rome (1958); Föreningen för växtförädling av skogsträd 1936-58. 1-68, Norrtälje (1959); Aktuellt från sydöstra distriktet. Skogen 47, 79+87 (1960); Deliniation of Improvement Objections and thier Possible Attainment- Growth and Stem Form. Proc. V World For. Congr. Seattle, 716-721, Washington (1960);