The Robinson Garden at Earlscliffe, Baily, Co. Dublin, Ireland

The Horticulturist
Articles and papers
Memorial Lectures
Obituaries

David Robinson Memorial Lectures

Bord Bia are proud sponsors of the David Robinson Memorial Lecture. This prestigious annual event [launched in 2005] is designed to not only remember the contributions of the late David Robinson, but provides an opportunity for young horticultural students from colleges north and south to come together to learn more about the important contributions horticulture makes to our health, environment and economy.

The 2006 David Robinson Memorial Lecture

Raymond M Wheeler, PhD, head of plant and crop research for NASA’s Advanced Life support program, told the students about NASA’s research on the possibility of producing fresh vegetables and small fruits in space to supplement space travellers’ diets.[2]

He talked about Nasa's research into the possibility of producing fresh vegetables and small fruits in space to supplement space travellers' diets. He also discussed studies into how to grow wheat, potatoes, carrots and other vegetables once space travellers set up bases on the moon and Mars. "When humans venture beyond earth orbit and on to Mars, horticulture and plants will surely follow," he believes.

Much research has already been done using test systems on earth, but plants including mustard cress have also been grown successfully in space in the Russian Mir space station, he told The Irish Times. [3]

"The cosmonauts thought it was very good. They really enjoyed fresh flavours added to their stored foods," Dr Wheeler said.

A copy of the 2006 lecture can be found here.

The 2005 David Robinson Memorial Lecture

In the first of the David Robinson Memorial Lectures, the director of horticulture at the Eden Project in Cornwall, Sue Minter, revealed her 'top 10' plants that have changed humanity.

Speaking at the Salesian College of Horticulture in Drumree, Co Meath, Ms Minter said that both positive and negative impacts influnced her choice of the 10 plants of most importance to mankind. Her top plant was the opium poppy, Papaver somniferum, chosen because it has had the most positive and negative impact on humanity. She said that although opium was vital as pharmaceutical morphine in the treatment of cancer, it also brought 'untold human misery through heroin addiction' .

Other plants in Ms Minter's top ten list include tobacco and the hemp plant Cannabis sativa, along with rice, cotton, rubber and tea, and the yam - the original source of the contraceptive pill - and the Cinchona tree, which provides the anti-malarial drug, quinine. [1]

A copy of the 2005 lecture can be found here.

This page was last updated on 24-Feb-2008 .