Abstract
ON her retirement from the post of head of the Botany Department, Rothamsted Experimental Station, on October 1, Dr. Winifred E. Brenchley had completed forty-two years of service there. She went to Rothamsted in 1906 as the holder of a Gilchrist Studentship of the University of London, and in the following year was appointed to the permanent staff. Dr. Brenchley was the first Woman member of the staff, and it says much for her personality and for the quality of her work that the appointment was an immediate success and paved the way for many other women to undertake research in agricultural science at Rothamsted. Dr. Brenchley was a pioneer in the study of the effects of micro-nutrient elements on plant growth, and is an acknowledged authority in this field. Before the importance of elements such as boron, copper and manganese in plant nutrition was fully appreciated, she began a long series of solution-culture studies on elements other than the ten known to be essential. Her monograph "Inorganic Plant Poisons and Stimulants", published in 1914, described her own results and provided a valuable critical summary of the scattered information then existing on the subject. The investigation of the effects of boron made afterwards is perhaps the best-known work from her laboratory. Dr. Brenchley‘s other chief interests have been in the ecology of Weeds, and in the changes with time in the flora of the permanent Park Grass plots at Rothamsted. The results of her earlier studies on these plots provided material for her book "Manuring of Grassland for Hay", published in 1924. Dr. Brenchley has played a very active part in the social life of Rothamsted, and in recognition of her long-continued interest in the Welfare of all members of the staff, a presentation was made to her at a party held on October 22, attended by many of her past and present colleagues. Dr. Brenchley is to continue her research work at Rothamsted on a part-time basis. Her successor as head of the Botany Department is Dr. D. J. Watson, formerly in charge of the Crop Physiology Section, which has now been merged With the Botany Department.
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Botany at Rothamsted : Dr. Winifred E. Brenchley. Nature 162, 727 (1948). https://doi.org/10.1038/162727c0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/162727c0