Rothamsted Experimental Station
The Rothamsted Experimental Station was founded in 1843 by John Bennet Lawes, a noted Victorian era entrepreneur and scientist who had founded one of the first artificial fertilizer manufacturing factories in 1842, on his 16th century estate, Rothamsted Manor, to investigate the impact of inorganic and organic fertilizers on crop yield.
Appointing a young chemist, Joseph Henry Gilbert, as his scientific collaborator, Lawes launched the first of a series of long-term field experiments, some of which still continue. Over 57 years, Lawes and Gilbert established the foundations of modern scientific agriculture and the principles of crop nutrition.
In 1902 Daniel Hall moved from Wye College to become director, taking a lower salary to join an establishment lacking money, staff, and direction. Hall decided that Rothamsted needed to specialise and was eventually successful in obtaining state support for agricultural research.
1907 E. John Russell moved to Rothamsted from Wye
1912 Russell took over as director until 1943, overseeing a major expansion in the 1920s.
1934 A public fund raising enabled purchase of the land on which the station stood[1]
1943 Sir William Gammie Ogg took over until 1958, increased the number of staff from 140 to 471 and creating new biochemistry, nematology, and pedology departments.
1987 Rothamsted, the Long Ashton Research Station, and Broom's Barn Experimental Station merged to form the Institute of Arable Crops Research (IACR). The Long Ashton Research Station was closed in 2002, with some of its staff moved to Rothamsted, whilst Broom's Barn is operated as an experimental farm for Rothamsted.
Rothamsted is now operated by a group of private organizations under the name of Rothamsted Research and is mainly funded by various branches of the UK government through the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council and Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra). Rothamsted Research supports around 350 scientists (including 50 visiting scientists), 150 administrative staff and 60 PhD students.
See Rothamsted Research website.
See Also
Sources of Information
- ↑ The Times Apr. 24, 1934