Kuo Nan Kao, has, in the words of the Royal Society of Canada “led the world in solving central problems in artificial hybridization of plants using tissue culture,” work carried out since joining the National Research Council, Saskatoon, 1970. Born in Jen Yee, Kiangsu, China, 1934, his parents moved the family from that war-torn country to Taiwan where Kuo Nan admits he was an indifferent student upon graduating from Chung-Hsing University, B.Sc., 1956.  When he became research assistant at Chung-Hsing University, he had no thought of studying overseas until urged to do so by his girlfriend and now wife, Wen-Jou, 1962. Admitted to the Ontario Agricultural College, now the University of Guelph, he received an M.S.A., 1964, and a Ph.D., University of Saskatchewan, 1968. A year of post-doctoral studies at Guelph and a year of research at the National Research Council’s Prairie Regional Laboratories followed before joining the NRC as Assistant Research Officer, 1970-74, Associate, 1974-80, and Senior Research Officer, Plant Biotechnology since 1980.  The recipient of the Distinguished Graduate Award in Agriculture, 1986, and recently recognized with a commendation for his scientific achievements by the Royal Society, Dr. Kao attributes his success to his professors at the two Canadian universities where he studied and the freedom to do research in good facilities. He is pictured here with NRC President, Dr. Arthur Carty, right, and the citation given him, 1998, by the Royal Society for 25 years of pioneering scientific research in the production of cell cultures from protoplasts. [Photo, courtesy Dr. Kuo Nan Kao]