David Leslie Hawksworth

David Leslie Hawksworth (born 1946 in Sheffield, UK) is a British mycologist and lichenologist currently with a professorship in the Universidad Complutense de Madrid in Madrid, Spain and also a Scientific Associate of The Natural History Museum in London. Hawksworth has had a prolific career, authoring nearly 600 scientific works (including almost 60 books), describing approximately 250 new taxa, and proposing around 500 new combinations or new names in fungal nomenclature. In 1996, he was honoured as Commander of the British Empire (CBE). In 2002, he received the Acharius Medal from the International Association for Lichenology. Five genera and many species have been named in his honour.

Hawksworth's research has focused on broad nomenclatural issues, fostering the integration of fungal nomenclature, and global assessment of fungal diversity. He has conducted systematic revisions of neglected groups, including lichenicolous taxa and fungi at the borderline of lichenisation, with a particular interest in the family Parmeliaceae. From 1983 to 1997, Hawksworth served as director of the International Mycological Institute (IMI), overseeing its name change to Commonwealth Mycological Institute in 1986 and its move from Kew to Egham in 1993.

He married Patricia Wiltshire, a leading forensic ecologist and palynologist in 2009. , he is the Editor-in-Chief of the journals ''IMA Fungus'' and ''Biodiversity and Conservation''. Provided by Wikipedia