Acknowledgements I wish to thank Henry Firus, Hwan Su Yoon, Rex Lowe, John McCosker,
and Jennifer Possley for generously sharing their photographs. Prashant Singh helped me to
understand the state of knowledge and questions that still exist regarding taxonomy of the
endosymbiotic cyanobacteria associated with Azolla and cycads. Robert Thacker very kindly
helped me with understanding the relationships that exist between marine sponges, cyanobacteria
and diatoms.
Christon J. Hurst celebrating the publication of Advances in Environmental Microbiology
Dedication I dedicate my efforts on this essay to Alex Stewart Fraser. He was the most intelligent
person whom I have known during this lifetime and his enthusiastic encourgement did in turn fuel
the enthusiasm of his students. Alex could absolutely thunder with excitement when he was
lecturing. My most memorable moment with Alex occurred when I was a senior and Alex asked
if I would feel brave enough to face an oral examination on evolution to be presented by a group of
my fellow students instead of sitting a written examination for my final grade of the quarter. None of
his other students ever had agreed to that idea. I bravely said “Yes”. The students who presented that
examination were given a few weeks to prepare the questions which they wanted to ask of
me. During the examination my inquisitors may have been more nervous than was I. After the
examination, Alex declared that I received the grade of “A” and revealed that he already had chilled
a bottle of champagne in honor of the occasion. That was the first celebratory bottle of champagne I
have opened during my science career. Alex sadly left us nearly two full decades ago, when he passed
away on Bastille Day July 14, 2002, but he certainly never will be forgotten. I thank you, Alex, for the
encouragment which you so generously gave to myself and to all of your other students.
References
Acosta K, Xu J, Gilbert S et al (2020) Duckweed hosts a taxonomically similar bacterial assemblage
as the terrestrial leaf microbiome. PLoS One 15(2):e0228560. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.
pone.0228560
Armstrong EJ, Roa JN, Stillman JH, Tresguerres M (2018) Symbiont photosynthesis in giant clams
is promoted by V-type H
+ -ATPase from host cells. J Exp Biol 221(Pt 18):jeb177220. https://doi.
org/10.1242/jeb.177220
590
C. J. Hurst
and Jennifer Possley for generously sharing their photographs. Prashant Singh helped me to
understand the state of knowledge and questions that still exist regarding taxonomy of the
endosymbiotic cyanobacteria associated with Azolla and cycads. Robert Thacker very kindly
helped me with understanding the relationships that exist between marine sponges, cyanobacteria
and diatoms.
Christon J. Hurst celebrating the publication of Advances in Environmental Microbiology
Dedication I dedicate my efforts on this essay to Alex Stewart Fraser. He was the most intelligent
person whom I have known during this lifetime and his enthusiastic encourgement did in turn fuel
the enthusiasm of his students. Alex could absolutely thunder with excitement when he was
lecturing. My most memorable moment with Alex occurred when I was a senior and Alex asked
if I would feel brave enough to face an oral examination on evolution to be presented by a group of
my fellow students instead of sitting a written examination for my final grade of the quarter. None of
his other students ever had agreed to that idea. I bravely said “Yes”. The students who presented that
examination were given a few weeks to prepare the questions which they wanted to ask of
me. During the examination my inquisitors may have been more nervous than was I. After the
examination, Alex declared that I received the grade of “A” and revealed that he already had chilled
a bottle of champagne in honor of the occasion. That was the first celebratory bottle of champagne I
have opened during my science career. Alex sadly left us nearly two full decades ago, when he passed
away on Bastille Day July 14, 2002, but he certainly never will be forgotten. I thank you, Alex, for the
encouragment which you so generously gave to myself and to all of your other students.
References
Acosta K, Xu J, Gilbert S et al (2020) Duckweed hosts a taxonomically similar bacterial assemblage
as the terrestrial leaf microbiome. PLoS One 15(2):e0228560. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.
pone.0228560
Armstrong EJ, Roa JN, Stillman JH, Tresguerres M (2018) Symbiont photosynthesis in giant clams
is promoted by V-type H
+ -ATPase from host cells. J Exp Biol 221(Pt 18):jeb177220. https://doi.
org/10.1242/jeb.177220
590
C. J. Hurst