Daniel McAlpine (21 January 1849 – 12 October 1932) was a Scottish-born Australian
mycologist
Mycology is the branch of biology concerned with the study of fungus, fungi, including their genetics, genetic and biochemistry, biochemical properties, their Taxonomy (biology), taxonomy and ethnomycology, their use to humans, including as a so ...
known for his research in
plant pathology
Plant pathology (also phytopathology) is the scientific study of diseases in plants caused by pathogens (infectious organisms) and environmental conditions (physiological factors). Organisms that cause infectious disease include fungus, fung ...
. He wrote several publications on plant disease in many crops and other plants. McAlpine was a
lecturer
Lecturer is an List of academic ranks, academic rank within many universities, though the meaning of the term varies somewhat from country to country. It generally denotes an academic expert who is hired to teach on a full- or part-time basis. T ...
in biology at the
University of Melbourne
The University of Melbourne is a public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in Victoria. Its main campus is located in Parkville, an inner suburb nor ...
from 1884, and, with his appointment to the Victorian Department of Agriculture from 1890 to 1911, became the
British Empire
The British Empire was composed of the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates, and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It began with the overseas possessions and trading posts esta ...
's first professional plant pathologist.
Early life
He was born in
Saltcoats
Saltcoats ( gd, Baile an t-Salainn) is a town on the west coast of North Ayrshire, Scotland. The name is derived from the town's earliest industry when salt was harvested from the sea water of the Firth of Clyde, carried out in small cottages al ...
, Scotland, the third son of schoolmaster Daniel McAlpine and his wife Flora. The young Daniel attended Ardeer School, where his father taught. McAlpine graduated from the
University of London
The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree ...
in 1873, where he attended lectures given by such luminaries as
Thomas Henry Huxley
Thomas Henry Huxley (4 May 1825 – 29 June 1895) was an English biologist and anthropologist specialising in comparative anatomy. He has become known as "Darwin's Bulldog" for his advocacy of Charles Darwin's theory of evolution.
The storie ...
(biology),
William Turner Thiselton-Dyer
Sir William Turner Thiselton-Dyer (28 July 1843 – 23 December 1928) was a leading British botanist, and the third director of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.
Life and career
Thiselton-Dyer was born in Westminster, London. He was a son of ...
(botany),
Archibald Geikie
Sir Archibald Geikie (28 December 183510 November 1924) was a Scottish geologist and writer.
Early life
Geikie was born in Edinburgh in 1835, the eldest son of Isabella Thom and her husband James Stuart Geikie, a musician and music critic. T ...
(geology), and
Robert Etheridge
Robert Etheridge FRS FRSE FGS (3 December 1819 – 18 December 1903) was an English geologist and palaeontologist.
Biography
Etheridge was born at Ross-on-Wye, in Herefordshire, the son of Thomas Etheridge and his wife Hannah Pardoe. After an ...
(paleontology). McAlpine was later appointed professor of natural history at the New Veterinary College in Edinburgh, and then
lecturer
Lecturer is an List of academic ranks, academic rank within many universities, though the meaning of the term varies somewhat from country to country. It generally denotes an academic expert who is hired to teach on a full- or part-time basis. T ...
in biology and botany at the
Heriot-Watt College
Heriot-Watt University ( gd, Oilthigh Heriot-Watt) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. It was established in 1821 as the School of Arts of Edinburgh, the world's first mechanics' institute, and subsequently granted univ ...
.
McAlpine moved to
Melbourne
Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...
, Australia in 1884, six years after his marriage to Isabella Jamieson Williamson. They would eventually have five daughters together. He was appointed to a lectureship in biology at
Ormond College
Ormond College is the largest of the residential colleges of the University of Melbourne located in the city of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It is home to around 350 undergraduates, 90 graduates and 35 professorial and academic residents.
Hi ...
,
University of Melbourne
The University of Melbourne is a public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in Victoria. Its main campus is located in Parkville, an inner suburb nor ...
in 1885. A year later, he became
visiting lecturer
In academia, a visiting scholar, visiting researcher, visiting fellow, visiting lecturer, or visiting professor is a scholar from an institution who visits a host university to teach, lecture, or perform research on a topic for which the visitor ...
in botany at the
Melbourne College of Pharmacy, a position he held until 1911. McAlpine was appointed to the Victorian Department of Agriculture as a
vegetable pathologist.
This appointment was made by
Alfred Deakin
Alfred Deakin (3 August 1856 – 7 October 1919) was an Australian politician who served as the second Prime Minister of Australia. He was a leader of the movement for Federation, which occurred in 1901. During his three terms as prime ministe ...
, later the
Prime Minister of Australia
The prime minister of Australia is the head of government of the Commonwealth of Australia. The prime minister heads the executive branch of the Australian Government, federal government of Australia and is also accountable to Parliament of A ...
. He was succeeded in this position in 1913 by
Charles Clifton Brittlebank, his assistant from 1908. Brittlebank provided illustrations for several of McAlpine's publications.
McAlpine regularly corresponded with geologist
Sir Archibald Geikie
Sir Archibald Geikie (28 December 183510 November 1924) was a Scottish geologist and writer.
Early life
Geikie was born in Edinburgh in 1835, the eldest son of Isabella Thom and her husband James Stuart Geikie, a musician and music critic. T ...
, and occasionally with his younger brother
James Geikie
James Murdoch Geikie PRSE FRS LLD (23 August 1839 – 1 March 1915) was a Scottish geologist. He was professor of geology at Edinburgh University from 1882 to 1914.
Life
Education
He was born in Edinburgh, the son of James Stuart Geikie a ...
. McAlpine had a long friendship with
David Orme Masson
Sir David Orme Masson KBE FRS FRSE LLD (13 January 1858 – 10 August 1937)L. W. Weickhardt,Masson, Sir David Orme (1858–1937), ''Australian Dictionary of Biography'', Volume 10, MUP, 1986, pp 432–435. Retrieved 6 October 2009 was a scie ...
, Professor of Chemistry at the University of Melbourne known for his work on the explosive compound
nitroglycerine
Nitroglycerin (NG), (alternative spelling of nitroglycerine) also known as trinitroglycerin (TNG), nitro, glyceryl trinitrate (GTN), or 1,2,3-trinitroxypropane, is a dense, colorless, oily, explosive liquid most commonly produced by nitrating ...
.
[Parbery (2015), p. 241.]
McAlpine died in
Leitchville
Leitchville is a town in northern Victoria, Australia. The town is in the Shire of Gannawarra local government area, 262 kilometres from the state capital, Melbourne. At the , Leitchville had a population of 558.
History
The district was ...
on 12 October 1932.
Career
As vegetable pathologist, McAlpine was tasked with determining the cause of
bitter pit
Bitter pit is a disorder in apple fruits, now believed to be induced by calcium deficiency. It occurs less commonly in pears.
The disease was probably first reported in Germany where it was known as ''Stippen''.J ...
, a once economically devastating fungal disease of apples in Australia. Although he was not successful, the scientific knowledge needed to solve the problem was still four decades from being developed. He did confirm that neither infectious agents nor poisons were the cause of bitter pit.
Memberships and honors
McAlpine was an honorary member of the Caesarian Leopold-Caroline Academy of Natural Phenomena (1894). He was a corresponding member of the
Linnean Society of New South Wales
The Linnean Society of New South Wales promotes ''the Cultivation and Study of the Science of Natural History in all its Branches'' and was founded in Sydney, New South Wales (Australia) in 1874 and incorporated in 1884.
History
The Society succe ...
(1902). In 1971 the
Australasian Plant Pathology Society
The Australasian Plant Pathology Society (APPS) is a scientific association whose members study plant diseases. Its members are located in Australia, New Zealand and Papua New Guinea, and also the Indian, Pacific and Asian regions. The society was ...
started the McAlpine memorial lectures. The first lecture was given by Lilian Fraser at the 2nd National Conference held in Brisbane 12–14 May 1976,
was titled "Diseases of Citrus Trees in Australia - the First Hundred Years".
The
Department of Environment and Primary Industries (Victoria)
The Department of Environment and Primary Industries (DEPI) was a state government department responsible for protecting the environment, boosting productivity in Victoria's food and fibre sector, management of natural resources and managing wate ...
awards the "Daniel McAlpine Science Award".
McAlpine has been called "the greatest figure in Victorian mycology".
Fungus species named in his honour include ''
Amanitopsis mcalpineana'' ,
and ''
Hydnangium mcalpinei'' .
Selected publications
In 30 years of research, McAlpine published over 200 papers,
monograph
A monograph is a specialist work of writing (in contrast to reference works) or exhibition on a single subject or an aspect of a subject, often by a single author or artist, and usually on a scholarly subject.
In library cataloging, ''monograph ...
s, and books dealing with all aspects of the plant pathology, from disease control methods to taxonomic studies of rusts, smuts and other fungi and from field diseases of cereals, citrus, grapes and stone fruit to post-harvest disorders of apples and other produce.
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See also
*
List of mycologists
This is a non-exhaustive list of mycologists, or scientists with a specialisation in mycology, with their author abbreviations. Because the study of lichens is traditionally considered a branch of mycology, lichenologists are included in this lis ...
*
:Taxa named by Daniel McAlpine
References
Cited literature
*Parbery, Douglas George (2015). ''Daniel McAlpine and the Bitter Pit''. Australian Plant Pathology ISBN 9783319095516.
Further reading
*Ainsworth, G.C. Brief Biographies of British Mycologists p. 113, 1996
*Australasian Journal of Pharmacy for October and November 1932 (n.s. XIII, pp. 933 and 1037)
{{DEFAULTSORT:McAlpine, Daniel
1849 births
1932 deaths
Academics of Heriot-Watt University
Alumni of the University of London
People from Saltcoats
Scottish mycologists