Horace Newton Barber FAA FRS (26 May 1914 - 16 April 1971) was an Australian botanist and geneticist, Foundation Professor of Botany at the University of Tasmania (1947 - 1963) and Foundation Professor of Botany at the University of New South Wales (1964 - 1971).[1] [2] [3]
Barber was born on 26 May 1914 in Warburton, Cheshire, to Horace Maximilian Barber and Mary, née Newton. He was educated at Cambridge (BA 1936; MA 1944; ScD 1963) and London University (PhD 1942). His education was interrupted by war service where he served as a Scientific Officer at the Telecommunications Research Establishment of the Ministry of Aircraft Production 1941–45, and Flight Lieutenant RAFVR (Hon) with service in Mediterranean and Southeast Asia Commands 1943–45.[2]
Following the war he moved to Australia, taking a position as lecturer in botany at the University of Sydney from March 1946. He married Nancy Patricia O'Grady, also a lecturer at the University of Sydney, on 20 April 1946 at St Mary's Cathedral, Sydney.[2]
He died of a rare cancer (sarcoma) on at his Epping (Sydney) home and was buried in the Field of Mars cemetery.[2]
His son Michael AO FAA (born 1947) was an academic[4] [5] and subsequently Vice Chancellor of the Flinders University of South Australia from 2008 until 2014.