the parasexual recombination and variation of Fusarium oxysporum. Rich farmlands in the Fens took Robertson into the field to study Phytophthora infestans epidemiology and the resistance mechanisms of potatoes to Phytophthora infestans which causes potato blight. In the laboratory Robertson developed revolutionary ideas on hyphal branching and growth with simple experiments that provided many insights about basic fungal growth processes. While in Cambridge Robertson also spent time teaching, developing a style very much his own. Students reported that they did not get comprehensive knowledge of plant pathology or of mycology, but they did get to know what scholarship was. Students got to feel the excitement of the unknown and what was involved in research on plant pathology and on mycology. In Cambridge Robertson and his wife rented a flat in a house near the Cambridge University Botanic Garden in Brookside. Max Walters and his wife Lorna rented an adjacent flat. Robertson and Walters shared a love of horticulture and natural history and Robertson developed his thinking about the importance of botanic gardens in informing the public about, and in the teaching of, botany. Hull In 1959, at the age of 35, Robertson became Professor of Botany at the University of Hull. At Hull Robertson built, from the bottom up, his own Department. It embodied his breadth of vision and the then swiftly evolving disciplines of bio-chemistry, ecology, genetics, and plant pathology. To complement the existing staff Robertson attracted a group of young lecturers. Together they provided undergraduates with both modern and traditional instruction in botany. Robertson developed the university's small botanic and experimental garden with specialist research collections, diverse collections for teaching and, to support research, experimental plots for bio-chemistry, ecology, genetics, and plant pathology. The garden was also open to the public. Robertson's 1962 article on botanic gardens published in Nature demonstrated that he "was in the vanguard of modern thinking on his subject". As well as running his department, Robertson also undertook university other duties and beyond. He was Dean of Science and in 1964 President of the British Mycological Society. The pressures of attending to teaching, research, student welfare, the university and his profession were too much. In 1967 he had a massive heart attack. However, after being absent for many months, and with the support of his family, he was able to return to work. During the first International Congress of Plant Pathology in 1968 Robertson