George William Cooke

CBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

FRS (6 January 1916 – 10 February 1992) was a British

chemist A chemist (from Greek ''chēm(ía)'' alchemy; replacing ''chymist'' from Medieval Latin ''alchemist'') is a scientist trained in the study of chemistry. Chemists study the composition of matter and its properties. Chemists carefully describe t ...

. He was the deputy director of

Rothamsted Experimental Station Rothamsted Research, previously known as the Rothamsted Experimental Station and then the Institute of Arable Crops Research, is one of the oldest agricultural research institutions in the world, having been founded in 1843. It is located at Har ...

from 1962 until 1975, and Chief Scientific Officer of the

Agricultural Research Council The Agricultural and Food Research Council (AFRC) was a British Research Council responsible for funding and managing scientific and technological developments in farming and horticulture. History The AFRC was formed in 1983 from its predecessor ...

from 1975 until his retirement in 1981.

Biography

George William Cooke was born in

Kingston on Soar Kingston on Soar is a village and civil parish in the Rushcliffe borough of Nottinghamshire, England. Description Setting Kingston on Soar predominantly lies within the Trent Washlands character area, and partially in the Nottinghamshire ...

, son of William Harry Cooke, a farmer, and Sarah Jane (née Whittaker). After attending

Loughborough Grammar School , religion = Christian , head_label = Headmaster , head = Dr Daniel Koch , r_head_label = Chaplain , r_head = Revd E J York , chair_label = Chairman ...

he entered

University College Nottingham , mottoeng = A city is built on wisdom , established = 1798 – teacher training college1881 – University College Nottingham1948 – university status , type = Public , chancellor ...

in 1935 and, two years later, was awarded an external degree of 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 ...

, with first class honours in chemistry. He stayed on for another year, working with J M Gulland before starting research in the chemistry department at Rothamsted in 1938. After completing his thesis in 1940, Cooke moved from Laboratory life to field trials, examining the use of fertilizers and the profitable management of soils. The details of his many research activities are described in the Royal Society biography. His main focus throughout his career was on obtaining the maximum productivity of various soils with minimum addition of fertilizer.

Appointments

* Head of chemistry department, Rothamsted, 1956 * Deputy director of

, 1962-1975 *

Fellow of the Royal Society Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the judges of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural knowledge, including mathemat ...

, 1969 * Member of the Soil Survey Research Board, 1962-1966, 1969-1973 * Agricultural consultant to the

Rubber Research Institute of Malaysia The Rubber Research Institute of Malaysia (RRIM; ms, Institut Penyelidikan Getah Malaysia) is a research center for problems and matters pertaining to rubber and its industry in Malaysia. History On 29 June 1925, the bill to incorporate the Rubb ...

, 1962-1978 * Chairman of the Rothamsted Field Plots Committee, 1971-1975 * Foreign member of the Lenin All-Union Academy of Agricultural Sciences of the USSR, 1972 * Consultant in soils to the Empire Cotton Growing Corporation, 1972-1973 * CBE, 1975 * Chief Scientific Officer of the Agricultural Research Council (ARC), 1975-1981 * Member of the Board of Directors of the International Fertilizer Development Centre,

Muscle Shoals Muscle Shoals is the largest city in Colbert County, Alabama, United States. It is located along the Tennessee River in the northern part of the state and, as of the 2010 census, the population of Muscle Shoals was 13,146. The estimated popu ...

, 1976-1979 * Honorary member of the Royal Irish Academy, 1980

Books

* Fertilizers and Profitable Farming. London: Crosby Lockwood & Son, 1960 * The control of soil fertility. London: Crosby Lockwood, 1967 * Fertilizing for Maximum Yield. London: Crosby Lockwood, 1972

Family

Cooke married Elizabeth H Hill in 1944. She managed the glasshouses at Berkhamsted, and they later published together. The Cookes had two children: Harvey-Jane in 1958 and William Benjamin in 1960. George William Cooke, who lived in Harpenden, died on 10 February 1992.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cooke, George W. 1916 births 1992 deaths People educated at Loughborough Grammar School Fellows of the Royal Society Commanders of the Order of the British Empire People from Harpenden