Biography:

Botanist, university professor. Born– September 1, 1872, Gallion. Parents– Reuben Henry and Margaret Louisa (Minge) Duggar. Married– Marie L. Robertson, October 16, 1901. Children– Five. Married– Elsie Rest, June 6, 1927. Children– One. Education– University of Alabama, 1887-89; Mississippi Agricultural and Mechanical College, B.S. (First Honors), 1891; Alabama Polytechnic Institute, M.S., 1892; Harvard University, A.B., 1894; M.A., 1895; Cornell University, Ph.S., 1898; studied in botanical laboratories in Germany and France, 1905-1906. Served as assistant director of the Alabama Experimental Station in Uniontown, 1892-1893; assistant botanist at the Illinois State Laboratory of Natural History, 1895-1896; instructor at Cornell University, 1896-1901; plant physiologist at the Bureau of Plant Industry, U.S. Department of Agriculture, 1901-1902; professor at the University of Missouri, 1902-1905; Cornell University, 1907-1912; Washington University and Missouri Botanical Garden, 1912-1927; University of Wisconsin, 1929-1943. Worked as a consultant in mycological research for Lederle Division of the American Cynamid Co after his retirement; his research led to the isolation and commercial production of the antibiotic aureomycin. Edited Botanical Abstracts, 1917-1933. A founder of the American Society of Agronomy; (1907) and the American Phytopathological Society (1908); member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Society of Naturalists, the American Botanical Society (president, 1923), and the American Society of Plant Physiologists (president, 1927). Awarded the Medal of Honor of Public Education by Venezuela, 1951. University of Missouri, honorary LL.D., 1944; Washington University, honorary D.Sc., 1953. Died September 10, 1956.

Source:

Marquis who’s who online; Dictionary of American Biography, Supplement 6, and files at Alabama Public Library Service.

Publication(s):

The Cultivation of Mushrooms. Washington, D.C.; Government Printing Office, 1904.

Fungus Diseases of Plants. New York; Ginn, 1909.

Mushroom Growing. New York; Orange Judd Co., 1915.

Plant Physiology. New York; Macmillan, 1911.

The Principles of Mushroom Growing and Mushroom Spawn Making. Washington, D.C.; Government Printing Office, 1905.

Joint_Publication(s):

A Textbook of General Botany. New York; Macmillan, 1942.

Editor:

Biological Abstracts of Radiation. New York; McGraw, 1936.