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Dr. Virgil Allen Johnson, emeritus professor, University of Nebraska ­ Lincoln, age 80, died Sunday, 22 July, 2001, at his home in Lincoln. He was born in Newman Grove, NE, on 28 June, 1921, to Oscar J. and Fairy Bell (Johnson) Johnson. Virgil married Betty Ann Tisthammer of Albion, NE, on 29 July, 1943, at Williams Field, Chandler, AZ. He graduated from Albion High School in 1939 and entered the Army in December of 1940. He served in the U.S. Army Air Crops during World War II. As a pilot in the 416th Night Fighter Squadron (12th Air Force), he flew in the European Theater, earning the Distinguished Flying Cross and Air Medal with two Oak Clusters. Returning to Nebraska after the war, he earned his B.S. (1948) and Ph.D. (1952) from the University of Nebraska at Lincoln.

Dr. Johnson was employed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture as part of the Agricultural Research Service. He was with the University of Nebraska Department of Agronomy from 1952­1986 as a professor of agronomy and coördinator of the USDA­ARS Hard Red Winter Wheat Research Program. With longtime colleague Dr. John Schmidt, Johnson was co-leader of the internationally recognized Nebraska Wheat Research Team. In more than 30 years of active service, this team developed and released 28 new varieties of hard red winter wheat. At the time of Johnson and Schmidt's retirement, varieties released by the UNL wheat-research team accounted for 97 % of the Nebraska winter wheat acreage, 20 % of the US acreage, and were planted in 35 other countries. Notable varieties released during their tenure included Scout, Centurk, and Brule. For more than 10 years, the variety Scout, released in 1963, was grown on more than 8 million acres, making it the most extensively grown cultivar in the nation at the time.

The team also carried out pioneering research on the enhancement of nutritional value of wheat, selection for yield stability, and on the development of hybrid wheat. Johnson instigated and coördinated the International Winter Wheat Performance Nursery in over 50 countries. He was the principal organizer of five international wheat conferences, sponsored by the U.S. Agency for International Development. In 1976, Dr. Johnson was chairman and team leader of a U.S. Wheat Studies Delegation to the People's Republic of China, sponsored by the National Academy of Sciences. It is notable that this was the first nonpolitical delegation invited by the PRC, after the Cultural Revolution.

Dr. Johnson was author or coauthor of 200 technical publications. In 1972, he was a member of a National Academy of Sciences committee that prepared a report titled 'Genetic Vulnerability of Major Crops.' The report is considered a landmark work in exploring the challenges to science and the nation that are posed by genetic vulnerability of its major crops.

Dr. Johnson was a member and past president of the Crop Science Society of America and a Fellow in the American Society of Agronomy and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Johnson and Schmidt jointly received the CSSA Crop Science Award in 1975. He received the Agricultural Achievement Award from Ak-Sar-Ben in 1970, the Distinguished Service Award from the U.S. Department of Agriculture in 1981, the American Society of Agronomy International Agronomy Award in 1984, and the Dekalb-Pfizer Crop Science Distinguished Career Award in 1985. He was inducted into the USDA­ARS Science Hall of Fame in 1990, and the Nebraska Hall of Agricultural Achievement in 1991. In 1999, on the 125th anniversary of the University of Nebraska Alumni Association, Dr. Johnson was selected as one of the 125 most significant alumni 'who've made a difference' in the state, nation, and world.

Dr. Johnson is survived by his wife Betty Ann of Lincoln, daughter Karen and husband Chuck Harris of York, and sons Dr. Reed and wife Kathleen Johnson of Faribault, MN, and Dr. Scott and wife Linda Johnson of Ames, IA. Letters of condolence may be sent to Mrs. Betty Ann Johnson, 128 N. 13th St, Lincoln, NE 68508-1501.