Nicholas Farrar Hughes (January 17, 1962 – March 16, 2009) was a British and American fisheries biologist known as an expert in stream salmonid ecology."Remembering Dr. Nicholas Hughes, January 17, 1962 – March 16, 2009" . School of Fisheries & Ocean Sciences, University of Alaska Fairbanks. Accessed March 23, 2009. Hughes was the son of the American poet Sylvia Plath and English poet Ted Hughes, and the younger brother of artist and poet Frieda Hughes.
Early life Nicholas was born in North Tawton, Devon, England in 1962.
After her son was born, Plath wrote most of the poems that would comprise her most famous collection of poems (the posthumously published Ariel). Plath addressed one of her last poems, "Nick and the Candlestick", to her son:
In 1970, Ted Hughes remarried, and the children continued their life on the family farm in Devon.Mendick, Robert. (2009--3-23). "History repeats as Sylvia Plath’s son kills himself." Evening Standard (London, UK).Evening Standard. (March 23, 2009). "Ted Hughes' son found hanged." Evening Standard (London, UK).
Despite the posthumous fame of Sylvia Plath, and the growing literary and biographical writings about her death, Nicholas was not told about the circumstances of his mother's suicide until the 1970s. In 1998, Ted Hughes published Birthday Letters, over 30 years of poems about Plath, which he dedicated to his two children.
In the poem "Life After Death", Hughes recounts how:
Your son's eyes.... would become So perfectly your eyes, Became wet jewels The hardest substance of the purest pain As I fed him in his high white chair.Hughes, Ted "Life After Death", Birthday Letters, Faber, 1998
Professional career Hughes was passionate about wildlife, especially fish. He attended Oxford University, receiving a BA degree in zoology in 1984. From 1984 to 1991, he worked in Fairbanks, Alaska as a research assistant at the Alaska Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit, part of the Biological Resources Division of the United States Geological Survey, and from 1990 to 1991, he was a student intern with the Sportfish Division of the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. In 1991, he earned a Ph.D. in biology from University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF).
After receiving his doctorate, Hughes held positions of increasing responsibility, instructing at UAF's School of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences in 1991–1992 and working as a research associate with UAF's Institute of Arctic Biology from 1992 to 1998. He held a post-doctoral fellowship from 1993 to 1995 with the Behavioral Ecology Research Group at Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, British Columbia and was a research associate there from 1995 to 1998. In September 1998, he became an assistant professor in the School of Fisheries and Ocean Science at UAF. Hughes studied stream salmonid ecology and conducted research both in the Alaska Interior and in New Zealand. He was a member of the American Fisheries Society.
During his scientific career, Hughes advanced the field of stream ecology as a prominent Alaskan biologist. According to Fairbanks reporter Dermot Cole:
Hughes resigned from his faculty position at UAF in December 2006, but continued his scientific research of king salmon until his death.Italie, Hillel. (March 23, 2009). "Poet Sylvia Plath's son, a prominent Fairbanks biologist, takes own life." Associated Press. Fairbanks Daily News-Miner.
Death On March 16, 2009, Hughes died by suicide in his home in Fairbanks, Alaska. According to his UAF colleagues, he had long battled depression.
References
External links Profile in The New York Times "Hughes-Plath Family Tree"