Hugh Iltis

Hugh Hellmut Iltis (b. April 7, 1925 in Brno, Czechoslovakia) is Professor Emeritus of Botany at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and is best known for his discoveries in the genetics of corn (maize). As a botanist, Iltis served as the Director of the University of Wisconsin-Madison Herbarium.

Iltis proved that domestic corn differs by a small number of mutations from a species of teosinte, a family of grasses that grows wild at a few sites in western Mexico. It was once believed that the original wild corn was extinct. Other researchers have since recreated some of the intermediate steps in the evolution of domestic corn from its wild predecessor, and have demonstrated how Native Mexicans may have selected natural hybrids. However, some controversy remains about what steps separate modern domestic corn from teosinte, its wild cousin.

Iltis's discovery is of great importance economically because he identified a source of genetic variabillity that could be used by plant breeders. Some species of teosinte are critically endangered, and all have a very limited range. Through his efforts, Iltis convinced the government of Mexico to devote resources to conservation of habitat for wild teosinte.

Another of Iltis's discoveries occurred in 1962, while he and Don Ugent were on a plant collecting expedition in Peru. Iltis spotted a wild tomato that had never been classified by taxonimists before, which he noted as No. 832. He sent samples and seeds to a variety of specialists in the field, and collected specimens for several herbariums. This wild tomato turned out to be a new species of tomato with much higher sugar and solids content than domestically grown tomatoes. As a source for hybridization with domestic tomatoes, it has been used both to improve the flavor of tomatoes and to boost solids content.

Iltis was born in Czechoslovakia, and left Europe as a refugee when the country was invaded by the Nazis, before World War II. He is an unwavering and uncompromising environmentalist and conservationist, a champion of preserving endangered and threatened habitats to preserve biodiversity.