Joseph Charles Arthur (January 11, 1850 – April 30, 1942) was a pioneer American plant pathologist and mycologist best known for his work with the parasitic
rust fungi
Rusts are plant diseases caused by pathogenic fungi of the order Pucciniales (previously known as Uredinales).
An estimated 168 rust genera and approximately 7,000 species, more than half of which belong to the genus ''Puccinia'', are currently a ...
(
Pucciniales
Rusts are plant diseases caused by pathogenic fungi of the order Pucciniales (previously known as Uredinales).
An estimated 168 rust genera and approximately 7,000 species, more than half of which belong to the genus ''Puccinia'', are currently a ...
).Makers of American Botany,
Harry Baker Humphrey Harry Baker Humphrey (1873–1955) was an American botanist.Makers of American Botany, Harry Baker Humphrey, Ronald Press Company, Library of Congress Card Number 61-18435 He was a pathologist with the USDA, specializing on research on breeding res ...
, Ronald Press Company, Library of Congress Card Number 61-18435 He was a
charter member
A charter is the grant of authority or rights, stating that the granter formally recognizes the prerogative of the recipient to exercise the rights specified. It is implicit that the granter retains superiority (or sovereignty), and that the rec ...
Mycological Society of America
The Mycological Society of America (MSA) is a learned society that serves as the professional organization of mycologists in the U.S. and Canada. It was founded in 1932. The Society's constitution states that "The purpose of the Society is to prom ...
, and the
American Phytopathological Society
The American Phytopathological Society (APS) is an international scientific organization devoted to the study of plant diseases (phytopathology). APS promotes the advancement of modern concepts in the science of plant pathology and in plant healt ...
Cornell University
Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to tea ...
.
Biography
Joseph Charles (“JC”) Arthur (1850–1942) was born in Lowville, New York, on January 11, 1850. Early in his childhood, his family moved to a farm near Charles City, Iowa, where he grew up. It was during that time that Arthur developed an interest in flowering plants. He was one of the first students to enroll at
Iowa State College
Iowa State University of Science and Technology (Iowa State University, Iowa State, or ISU) is a public land-grant research university in Ames, Iowa. Founded in 1858 as the Iowa Agricultural College and Model Farm, Iowa State became one of the n ...
(now University) in 1869. Due to his interest in plants, he planned to study botany during college. Much to his dismay, no botanists were at Iowa State during his first year. In his second year, botanist Charles E. Bessey obtained a professorship at Iowa State and it was under his guidance that Arthur began his formal study of botany. To help facilitate Arthur’s studies, Bessey purchased a rust collection from the herbarium of Moses A. Curtis. Arthur graduated from Iowa State in 1872.Mains, EB. 1942. Joseph Charles Arthur (1850-1942). ''Mycologia'' 34: 601–605.
In 1876, Arthur took a position as an instructor at Iowa State. He published his first paper that year, which was a catalog of the flowering plants of Iowa. It was during this time that he met E.W.D Holway, another noted botanist and mycologist. The two became friends and colleagues until Holway’s death in 1923. In 1877, Arthur received his Master's of Science (M.S.) at Iowa State. After that, he studied briefly at Harvard and Johns Hopkins University. From 1879 to 1881, Arthur was an instructor at the University of Wisconsin and then at the University of Minnesota during the following year.
After his year in Minnesota, Arthur became the first botanist to work at the
New York State Agricultural Experiment Station The New York State Agricultural Experiment Station (NYSAES) at Geneva, Ontario County, New York State, is an agricultural experiment station operated by the New York State College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at Cornell University. In August 2 ...
in Geneva, New York. This appointment was the first of its kind in the United States. There, most of his work was with bacterial or
fire blight
Fire blight, also written fireblight, is a contagious disease affecting apples, pears, and some other members of the family Rosaceae. It is a serious concern to apple and pear producers. Under optimal conditions, it can destroy an entire orchard ...
of pear. He was the first to establish that
bacteria
Bacteria (; singular: bacterium) are ubiquitous, mostly free-living organisms often consisting of one Cell (biology), biological cell. They constitute a large domain (biology), domain of prokaryotic microorganisms. Typically a few micrometr ...
can cause
plant disease
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 fungi, oomy ...
. He was also the first plant pathologist to successfully execute
Purdue University
Purdue University is a public land-grant research university in West Lafayette, Indiana, and the flagship campus of the Purdue University system. The university was founded in 1869 after Lafayette businessman John Purdue donated land and mone ...
, where he remained until his retirement in 1915. He was also the first botanist at the Purdue University Agricultural Experiment Station. Purdue continued to support his contribution to the North American Flora. One of his first accomplishments while at Purdue was determining that
formalin
Formaldehyde ( , ) ( systematic name methanal) is a naturally occurring organic compound with the formula and structure . The pure compound is a pungent, colourless gas that polymerises spontaneously into paraformaldehyde (refer to section F ...
could be used as a fungicide to control potato scab.
It was at Purdue where Arthur began over 19 years of culture experiments with American species of rusts. He was faced with the task of identifying a species concept appropriate for rust fungi, many of which exhibit up to five different spore types and can alternate between two hosts, known as heteroecism. The life cycle of rusts was not fully known for most species, so Arthur’s goal was to keep rusts under direct observation to note the succession of spore types. Heteroecism of North American rusts was unexplored at that point, so to find the alternate hosts for some species, he performed over 3750 inoculations with 2140 collections on potential hosts. Through those culture studies, Arthur realized the importance of host specialization to the delimitation of species. Arthur also introduced a greater emphasis on morphological, and especially microscopic characters, such as the number and arrangement of germpores on spores that had up to this point, not been considered in the taxonomy of rust fungi. Later, their taxonomic significance became shown.
During his career, Arthur named 29 genera and 309 species in the North American Flora, and described an additional 50 species from South America, India and the Philippines, many of which he obtained from the collections of Holway.
Arthur was a charter member of the Botanical Society of America (twice serving as President), the Mycological Society of America, American Phytopathological Society (where he also served as President), the American Association of University Professors, and many other learned societies.
His first paper on the rust fungi was published in 1883 and he continued publishing on the subject for over half of a century, his final publication appearing in 1934.
Arthur Herbarium
During his tenure at Purdue, Arthur accumulated over 40,000 rust specimens. Although he housed them at Purdue, Arthur considered these specimens to be his property because he financed most out of his own pocket. When Purdue disagreed, Arthur hired moving vans and quietly packed up the entire herbarium, including cabinets, and moved it to his house. This caused a standoff with Winthrop E. Stone, President of Purdue, who directed that he return all of the specimens, papers, drawings and notes related to his work with the North American flora to the herbarium. Ultimately an agreement was reached between Arthur and the Trustees of Purdue University to reimburse Arthur for expenses he personally incurred to build and maintain the herbarium, paying him the grand sum of $1450 amounting to 3.5 cents per specimen.Cummins, GB. 1978. Arthur: the man and his work. ''Annual Review of Phytopathology '' 16: 19-30.
Today the Arthur Herbarium is located at Lilly Hall of Science at Purdue University and it still houses Arthur's priceless collections. The collection has grown to almost 100,000 specimens of rust fungi and is considered one of the most important holdings of these fungi in the world. It is currently directed by Dr. M. Catherine Aime.
Personal life
Arthur married Emily Stiles Potter of Lafayette, Indiana in 1901 and the two lived together until her death in 1935. His interests also extended into music. His premier piece was “Vive Purdue.” Arthur died in 1942 in Brook, Indiana. He is buried in Lafayette.
See also
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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 li ...