Residence New Zealand Name Roderick Bieleski | Alma mater University of Sydney Fields Plant physiology | |
Thesis Studies on the physiology of sugar-cane (1958) Notable awards Hector Medal (1984)
Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit (2010) Books Feijoas: Origins, Cultivation and Uses, Meanings and Origins of Botanical Names of New Zealand Plants | ||
Roderick Leon "Rod" Bieleski (3 August 1931 – 15 November 2016) was a New Zealand plant physiologist.
Born in Auckland on 3 August 1931, Bieleski attended Auckland University College, graduating with an MSc with first-class honours in 1955. After completing a PhD on the process of sugar transport in sugar cane at the University of Sydney in 1958, he began a research career at the New Zealand Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (DSIR), retiring in 1996. From 1980 to 1988 he was the director of the DSIR's division of horticulture and processing.
He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand in 1973, and won the society's Hector Medal in 1984. He was awarded a DSc by thesis by the University of Sydney in 1990, and he was appointed a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to horticultural science in the 2010 New Year Honours.
Bieleski died in Takapuna on 15 November 2016.