John Edgar "Jack" Myers (July 10, 1913 – December 28, 2006) was an American molecular biologist and writer of popular science.

Born in Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania

The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...

, Myers graduated from Juniata College

Juniata College

Juniata College is a private liberal arts college located in Huntingdon, Pennsylvania. It is named after the Juniata River — one of the principal tributaries of the Susquehanna River. In 1876 it became the first college founded by the Church of the Brethren and has been co-educational since...

 in 1933, and gained a Masters from Montana State University

Montana State University - Bozeman

Montana State University – Bozeman is a public university located in Bozeman, Montana. It is the state's land-grant university and primary campus in the Montana State University System, which is part of the Montana University System...

 in 1935, and a Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota

University of Minnesota

The University of Minnesota, Twin Cities is a public research university located in Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota, United States. It is the oldest and largest part of the University of Minnesota system and has the fourth-largest main campus student body in the United States, with 52,557...

 in 1939.

Myers joined the University of Texas in 1941, teaching until 1980. He continued researching as an emeritus professor until 1999. His areas of expertise were photosynthesis

Photosynthesis

Photosynthesis is a chemical process that converts carbon dioxide into organic compounds, especially sugars, using the energy from sunlight. Photosynthesis occurs in plants, algae, and many species of bacteria, but not in archaea. Photosynthetic organisms are called photoautotrophs, since they can...

, phototropism

Phototropism

Phototropism is directional growth in which the direction of growth is determined by the direction of the light source. In other words, it is the growth and response to a light stimulus. Phototropism is most often observed in plants, but can also occur in other organisms such as fungi...

 and algae

Algae

Algae are a large and diverse group of simple, typically autotrophic organisms, ranging from unicellular to multicellular forms, such as the giant kelps that grow to 65 meters in length. They are photosynthetic like plants, and "simple" because their tissues are not organized into the many...

. His work included research on growing algae in space.

He was elected as a member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences

United States National Academy of Sciences

The National Academy of Sciences is a corporation in the United States whose members serve pro bono as "advisers to the nation on science, engineering, and medicine." As a national academy, new members of the organization are elected annually by current members, based on their distinguished and...

 in 1975. In 1998, he was awarded the Founders Award by the American Society for Gravitational and Space Biology. Other awards include The Darbaker Prize from the Botanical Society of America

Botanical Society of America

The Botanical Society of America represents professional and amateur botanists, researchers, educators and students in over 80 countries of the world...

 in 1959

He was the senior science editor of Highlights for Children

Highlights for Children

Highlights for Children is an American children's magazine. It began publication in June 1946, started by Garry Cleveland Myers and his wife Caroline Clark Myers in Honesdale, Pennsylvania...

from 1958 until his death in 2006, aged 93. The magazine, a general interest magazine for children, had been started by his parents in 1946, and had a circulation of about two million in 2006 http://www.highlights.com/custserv/customerservicecontent2main.jsp?iContentID=62&iCategoryID=40&CCNavIDs=3,40.