Sir John Bretland Farmer FRS

FRSE Fellowship of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (FRSE) is an award granted to individuals that the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Scotland's national academy of science and letters, judged to be "eminently distinguished in their subject". This soci ...

(5 April 1865 – 26 January 1944) was a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

botanist Botany, also called , plant biology or phytology, is the science of plant life and a branch of biology. A botanist, plant scientist or phytologist is a scientist who specialises in this field. The term "botany" comes from the Ancient Greek wo ...

. He believed that

chromomere A chromomere, also known as an idiomere, is one of the serially aligned beads or granules of a eukaryotic chromosome, resulting from local coiling of a continuous DNA thread. Chromeres are regions of chromatin that have been compacted through loc ...

s not

chromosome A chromosome is a long DNA molecule with part or all of the genetic material of an organism. In most chromosomes the very long thin DNA fibers are coated with packaging proteins; in eukaryotic cells the most important of these proteins are ...

s were the unit of heredity. Farmer and J. E. S. Moore introduced the term ''

meiosis Meiosis (; , since it is a reductional division) is a special type of cell division of germ cells in sexually-reproducing organisms that produces the gametes, such as sperm or egg cells. It involves two rounds of division that ultimately resu ...

'' in 1905.

Life

He was born at

Atherstone Atherstone is a market town and civil parish in the North Warwickshire district of Warwickshire, England. Located in the far north of the county, Atherstone is on the A5 national route, and is adjacent to the border with Leicestershire which ...

Warwickshire Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, and the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare at Stratford-upon-Avon an ...

the son of John Henry Farmer and his wife Elizabeth Corbett Bretland. He attended the Queen Elizabeth Grammar School in Atherstone. He won a place at

Magdalen College Magdalen College (, ) is a constituent college of the University of Oxford. It was founded in 1458 by William of Waynflete. Today, it is the fourth wealthiest college, with a financial endowment of £332.1 million as of 2019 and one of the st ...

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

, graduating MA in 1887. During this period he was greatly influenced by Prof

Isaac Bayley Balfour Sir Isaac Bayley Balfour, KBE, FRS, FRSE (31 March 1853 – 30 November 1922) was a Scottish botanist. He was Regius Professor of Botany at the University of Glasgow from 1879 to 1885, Sherardian Professor of Botany at the University of Oxfor ...

. He was made a Fellow of Magdalen College 1889–1897, demonstrator of botany in 1887–1892, and assistant professor of biology in 1892–1895 at Oxford, and then became

professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who pr ...

of botany at

Imperial College London Imperial College London (legally Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine) is a public research university in London, United Kingdom. Its history began with Prince Albert, consort of Queen Victoria, who developed his vision for a cu ...

. He received the

Doctor of Science Doctor of Science ( la, links=no, Scientiae Doctor), usually abbreviated Sc.D., D.Sc., S.D., or D.S., is an academic research degree awarded in a number of countries throughout the world. In some countries, "Doctor of Science" is the degree used f ...

(D.Sc.) from the University of Oxford in March 1902. He was elected a

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 science, natural knowledge, incl ...

in 1900, was awarded its

Royal Medal The Royal Medal, also known as The Queen's Medal and The King's Medal (depending on the gender of the monarch at the time of the award), is a silver-gilt medal, of which three are awarded each year by the Royal Society, two for "the most important ...

in 1919 and was its vice-president from 1919 to 1921. He was also President of the Alpine Climbers Club 1910–12. He was knighted in 1926 for services to botany and scientific education. He died in

Exmouth Exmouth is a harbor, port town, civil parishes in England, civil parish and seaside resort, sited on the east bank of the mouth of the River Exe and southeast of Exeter. In 2011 it had a population of 34,432, making Exmouth the List of town ...

on the southern English coast on 26 January 1944.

Family

In 1892, he married Edith May Gertrude Pritchard.

Publications

Farmer was an editor of the ''

Annals of Botany ''Annals of Botany'' is a monthly peer-reviewed scientific journal publishing experimental, theoretical and applied papers on all aspects of plant biology. The current (2022) Chief Editor is Rowan Sage, replacing John Seymour (Pat) Heslop-Harrison ...

'' (1906-1922), and wrote particularly on

cytology Cell biology (also cellular biology or cytology) is a branch of biology that studies the structure, function, and behavior of cells. All living organisms are made of cells. A cell is the basic unit of life that is responsible for the living and ...

. He was also editor of the John Murray–published journal, ''Science Progress in the Twentieth Century'' (from 1909 to 1912), and ''

Gardeners' Chronicle ''The Gardeners' Chronicle'' was a British horticulture periodical. It lasted as a title in its own right for nearly 150 years and is still extant as part of the magazine ''Horticulture Week''. History Founded in 1841 by the horticulturists Josep ...

'' (1904 to 1906). His books include:
''Flowering Plants''
(1899) *''Elementary Botany'' (1904)
''The Book of Nature Study''
(6 vols) (1908 onwards) *Translation of ''Die Mutationstheorie'' (1911) co-written with

Arthur Dukinfield Darbishire Arthur Dukinfield Darbishire FRSE (14 February 1879 – 26 December 1915) was a short-lived but influential British zoologist and geneticist. He was the first person to lecture in Genetics in the UK. He caused a stir in the world of genetics ...

''Plant Life''
(1913) *''Nature and Development of Plants'' (1918)

References

Academics of Imperial College London Alumni of Magdalen College, Oxford Fellows of Magdalen College, Oxford Fellows of the Royal Society Knights Bachelor English botanists British male journalists 1865 births 1944 deaths Royal Medal winners People from Atherstone {{UK-botanist-stub