John Herbert Watkinson (27 August 1932 – 14 February 2017) was a New Zealand soil chemist. Watkinson studied at

Victoria University College Victoria University of Wellington ( mi, Te Herenga Waka) is a university in Wellington, New Zealand. It was established in 1897 by Act of Parliament, and was a constituent college of the University of New Zealand. The university is well know ...

, graduating with a

BSc A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University of ...

in 1953. He later completed a

PhD PHD or PhD may refer to: * Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), an academic qualification Entertainment * '' PhD: Phantasy Degree'', a Korean comic series * ''Piled Higher and Deeper'', a web comic * Ph.D. (band), a 1980s British group ** Ph.D. (Ph.D. albu ...

at the same institution in 1969, following its attainment of autonomy as

Victoria University of Wellington Victoria University of Wellington ( mi, Te Herenga Waka) is a university in Wellington, New Zealand. It was established in 1897 by Act of Parliament, and was a constituent college of the University of New Zealand. The university is well know ...

. His thesis, supervised by Alex Wilson, was titled ''The kinetics of ion exchange in soil''. Watkinson worked at the Ruakura Agricultural Research Centre, and he is noted for developing the fluorometric determination of

selenium Selenium is a chemical element with the symbol Se and atomic number 34. It is a nonmetal (more rarely considered a metalloid) with properties that are intermediate between the elements above and below in the periodic table, sulfur and tellurium, ...

in biological samples, and his research into selenium fertilisers and the determination of the optimum particle sizes for elemental sulphur and reactive phosphate rock. He was elected a

Fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand A fellow is a concept whose exact meaning depends on context. In learned or professional societies, it refers to a privileged member who is specially elected in recognition of their work and achievements. Within the context of higher education ...

in 1994, and was also a Fellow of the New Zealand Institute for Advanced Studies. Watkinson died aged 84 in

Hamilton Hamilton may refer to: People * Hamilton (name), a common British surname and occasional given name, usually of Scottish origin, including a list of persons with the surname ** The Duke of Hamilton, the premier peer of Scotland ** Lord Hamilt ...

on 14 February 2017.

References

1932 births 2017 deaths Victoria University of Wellington alumni New Zealand chemists New Zealand soil scientists Fellows of the Royal Society of New Zealand {{NewZealand-scientist-stub