Plant Pathology and Biocontrol Unit P. O. Box 7035 S-750 07 UPPSALA Sweden

Professor, head of unit Berndt Gerhardson Tel: +4618-671600 Fax: +4618-671690 E-mail: Berndt.Gerhardson@vpat.slu.se

The 2003 winner of the Jakob Eriksson prize is Dr. Jaacov Katan. Dr. Katan was born in 1936 in Baghdad, Iraq, and emmigrated to Israel in 1951, where he received his M. Sc. degree in agriculture, and was awarded a Ph.D. in plant pathology in 1967. Dr. Katan has a broad interest in plant pathology, but has made outstanding contributions especially in the fields of soil-borne pathogens and soil biology. He made an original and innovative contribution through the discovery and implementation of soil solarization in 1976: the control of soilborne pests by solar heating, using plastic mulching. Through this and other outstanding contributions Dr. Katanīs laboratory has become a centre for solarization research. He has hosted many graduate students and scientists from other countries and also cooperates with groups the world over.

Dr. Katan has authored or co-authored about 200 major publications and over 300 other publications including the editorship of a number of books. He has also been responsible for organizing many international conferences, seminars and workshops in many countries. He is active in several learned and professional societies and has been recognised by a number of awards. He is a Fellow of the American Phytopathological Society, the American Association for the Advancement of Science who awarded him the Rothschild Prize, and is incumbent of the Buck Family Chair in Plant Pathology.

Dr. Katan is an enthusiastic teacher, loved by his students. He has raised many generations of students that are still indebted to his vivid teaching at the university. Thanks to his excellent teaching at all levels of university courses he has continuously been elected as a distinguished teacher.

On behalf of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in Stockholm, the International Commission for the Jakob Eriksson Prize, and the International Society for the Plant Pathology, it is my pleasure to announce that the Jakob Eriksson Prize for 2003 will be awarded to Dr. Katan. The Prize is being awarded in recognition of Dr. Katanīs

original and innovative research in the fields of soil solarization and soilborne pathogens, his outstanding and broad international cooperation, and his dedication in the education of the younger generations of plant pathologists.

Uppsala in November 2002

Prof. Berndt Gerhardson
Chairman of the International Commission for the Jakob Eriksson Prize