Renowned Wood Scientist passes awayFriday 28 Mar 2008 Ted Hills became a world leader in the field of wood science. His specialty was understanding the useful chemicals, particularly gums, that could be extracted from timber for other use. Hills, who was born in Geelong, died last month in Melbourne, spent almost his entire working life in the CSIRO. Hills early work covered tannins in various types of tree, and included the possibilities for developing industries in Papua based on the extraction of tannin from Mangrove bark. Other recurrent interests were in the kinos (gums) of eucalypts and in antho-cyanins (coloured compounds) in wood. He undertook extensive chemical studies of the polyphenols in wood tissues, the mechanism of their biosynthesis and their use in assisting classification and identification.In 1962 Hills co-edited, and co-wrote, an influential book "Wood Extractives and their Significance to the Pulp and Paper Industries". He also co-edited a book called "Eucalypts for Wood Production" in 1978. By the end of his career Hills had published two more books and about 200 papers. An effective ambassador for Australia in the forest products field, he was president of the International Academy of Wood Science from 1978 to 1982, an honorary member of the International Union of Forest Research Organisations, co-ordinator of its forest products division and executive board member. |
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