Description:
<jats:p>Irene Manton was by profession a cytologist but she was much else besides: a violinist, a collector of modern and Chinese painting, and knowledgeable about Chinese printing. She was a versatile classical botanist, but her real interests lay in two specialist fields. H er early work, up to about 1950, was exclusively devoted to chromosome cytology, using chromosome number as a guide in elucidating interrelationships between plants and their phylogeny. During this part of her career she concentrated largely on ferns. After 1950, and with the advent of electron microscopy, she extended her interests to cover the fine structure, firstly of spermatozoids but for many years thereafter of a wide range of nanoplankton from all over the world. Even then, she continued her fern cytology partly at her own hands but mostly through the activity of innumerable students and colleagues. In both fields of research she inspired generations of postgraduate students by her enthusiasm, her meticulous attention to detail and her exuberant energy.</jats:p>