John Hubert Craigie, (December 8, 1887 – February 26, 1989) was a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

plant pathologist 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 is known for his "research and development of

rust Rust is an iron oxide, a usually reddish-brown oxide formed by the reaction of iron and oxygen in the catalytic presence of water or air moisture. Rust consists of hydrous iron(III) oxides (Fe2O3·nH2O) and iron(III) oxide-hydroxide (FeO(OH ...

-resistant

cereals A cereal is any grass cultivated for the edible components of its grain (botanically, a type of fruit called a caryopsis), composed of the endosperm, germ, and bran. Cereal grain crops are grown in greater quantities and provide more food en ...

which have been of vital significance to Canada as a cereal producing nation."

Biography

Born in Merigomish,

Pictou County Pictou County is a county in the province of Nova Scotia, Canada. It was established in 1835, and was formerly a part of Halifax County from 1759 to 1835. It had a population of 43,657 people in 2021, a decline of 0.2 percent from 2016. Furthermo ...

Nova Scotia Nova Scotia ( ; ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. Nova Scotia is Latin for "New Scotland". Most of the population are native Eng ...

, Craigie studied at

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

, the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Tw ...

, and the

University of Manitoba The University of Manitoba (U of M, UManitoba, or UM) is a Canadian public research university in the province of Manitoba.Dominion Rust Research Laboratory The Cereal Research Centre was a research institute established in 1925 based at the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg. It became part of a national network of research centres operated by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada. Its research led to the ...

in Winnipeg, Manitoba in 1925. In 1930, he received a

Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is a ...

from the University of Manitoba. In 1926, he published "Discovery of the Function of the Pycnia of the Rust Fungi." From 1928 to 1945, he was in charge of the plant pathology section of the lab. From 1945 to 1952, he was the Dominion Botanist for the Department of Agriculture.

Honours

In 1952, he was made a Fellow of the

Royal Society The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...

. While a Fellow of the

Royal Society of Canada The Royal Society of Canada (RSC; french: Société royale du Canada, SRC), also known as the Academies of Arts, Humanities and Sciences of Canada (French: ''Académies des arts, des lettres et des sciences du Canada''), is the senior national, bil ...

, he was made an Officer of the

Order of Canada The Order of Canada (french: Ordre du Canada; abbreviated as OC) is a Canadian state order and the second-highest honour for merit in the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, after the Order of Merit. To coincide with the ...

in 1967. He was awarded honorary degrees from the University of British Columbia (1946), the University of Saskatchewan (1948), Dalhousie University (1951), and the University of Manitoba (1959). He was a charter member of the Canadian Phytopathological Society. In 1942, he was awarded the Royal Society of Canada's

Flavelle Medal The Flavelle Medal is an award of the Royal Society of Canada "for an outstanding contribution to biological science during the preceding ten years or for significant additions to a previous outstanding contribution to biological science". It is n ...

. In 1930, he was awarded the International Society for Plant Pathology's Jakob Eriksson Prize.

References

External links

John Hubert Craigie
at

The Canadian Encyclopedia ''The Canadian Encyclopedia'' (TCE; french: L'Encyclopédie canadienne) is the national encyclopedia of Canada, published online by the Toronto-based historical organization Historica Canada, with the support of Canadian Heritage. Available fo ...

1887 births 1989 deaths 20th-century Canadian botanists Canadian centenarians Men centenarians Fellows of the Royal Society Fellows of the Royal Society of Canada Officers of the Order of Canada Canadian phytopathologists People from Pictou County University of Manitoba alumni Harvard University alumni University of Minnesota alumni Canadian expatriates in the United States {{Canada-botanist-stub