Sir Kenneth Mather

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 (22 June 1911 – 20 March 1990) 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, ...

geneticist A geneticist is a biologist or physician who studies genetics, the science of genes, heredity, and variation of organisms. A geneticist can be employed as a scientist or a lecturer. Geneticists may perform general research on genetic processes ...

and botanist. 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 knowledge, including mathemat ...

in 1949, and won its

Darwin Medal The Darwin Medal is one of the medals awarded by the Royal Society for "distinction in evolution, biological diversity and developmental, population and organismal biology". In 1885, International Darwin Memorial Fund was transferred to the ...

in 1964. He was the second

vice chancellor A chancellor is a leader of a college or university, usually either the executive or ceremonial head of the university or of a university campus within a university system. In most Commonwealth and former Commonwealth nations, the chancellor ...

of the

University of Southampton , mottoeng = The Heights Yield to Endeavour , type = Public research university , established = 1862 – Hartley Institution1902 – Hartley University College1913 – Southampton University Coll ...

, serving from 1965 to 1971. He was instrumental in persuading the University Grants Committee to establish a new Medical School at the university.Peter D S Caligari: Mather, Sir Kenneth (1911–1990), rev. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004, accessed 12 Aug 2013
/ref>

Early life

He was born in

Nantwich Nantwich ( ) is a market town and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East in Cheshire, England. It has among the highest concentrations of listed buildings in England, with notably good examples of Tudor and Georgian architecture. ...

, Cheshire. His father, Richard Mather, was a furniture-maker in Nantwich, but originally came from Yorkshire. In 1915 he attended the

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britai ...

boys' elementary school in Nantwich. He won a county scholarship in 1922 to Nantwich and Acton grammar school. In 1928 he won a county university scholarship to read botany at

Manchester University , mottoeng = Knowledge, Wisdom, Humanity , established = 2004 – University of Manchester Predecessor institutions: 1956 – UMIST (as university college; university 1994) 1904 – Victoria University of Manchester 1880 – Victoria Univer ...

gaining 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 ...

with first-class honours in 1931. He then gained research scholarship from the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries working at the

John Innes Horticultural Institution The John Innes Centre (JIC), located in Norwich, Norfolk, England, is an independent centre for research and training in plant and microbial science founded in 1910. It is a registered charity (No 223852) grant-aided by the Biotechnology and B ...

Merton Park Merton Park is a suburb in the London Borough of Merton. It is situated between Colliers Wood, Morden, South Wimbledon and Raynes Park. It is 11 miles (11.7 km) southwest of Charing Cross. The area is part of the historic parish of Merton ...

, Surrey, on chromosome behaviour. In 1933 he gained a

London University 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- ...

PhD.

Career

In 1933 he worked in Sweden, returning in 1934 to

University College London , mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £143 million (2020) , budget = ...

to work under

Ronald Fisher Sir Ronald Aylmer Fisher (17 February 1890 – 29 July 1962) was a British polymath who was active as a mathematician, statistician, biologist, geneticist, and academic. For his work in statistics, he has been described as "a genius who ...

where he gained experience in statistical analysis. From 1937 to 1938 he went to the US under a Rockefeller scholarship and then returned as head of genetics at the John Innes Institute. In 1948 he became professor of genetics at

Birmingham University , mottoeng = Through efforts to heights , established = 1825 – Birmingham School of Medicine and Surgery1836 – Birmingham Royal School of Medicine and Surgery1843 – Queen's College1875 – Mason Science College1898 – Mason Univers ...

. In 1965, as vice chancellor at Southampton, he had a difficult time with student unrest but was able to establish a new medical school for the university. He returned to Birmingham as an Hon. Professor and did work there on biometrical genetics until his death.

Personal life

In 1937 Mather married a fellow botanist, Mona Rhodes (died 1987), and they had one son. He was appointed

in 1956 and knighted in 1979. He received honorary degrees from Southampton University (1972), the

University of Bath (Virgil, Georgics II) , mottoeng = Learn the culture proper to each after its kind , established = 1886 (Merchant Venturers Technical College) 1960 (Bristol College of Science and Technology) 1966 (Bath University of Technology) 1971 (univ ...

(1975), Manchester University (1980) and the

University of Wales , latin_name = , image = , caption = Coat of Arms , motto = cy, Goreu Awen Gwirionedd , mottoeng = The Best Inspiration is Truth , established = , , type = Confederal, non-member ...

(1980).University of Bath: Honorary Graduates 1966 to 1988, accessed 13 August 2013
/ref> He became 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 ...

in 1949 and was awarded the Weldon medal (Oxford, 1962) and the Darwin medal (Royal Society, 1964). He was president of the Genetical Society of Great Britain (1949–52). He died at his home in Egbaston of a heart attack.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mather, Kenneth English botanists English geneticists 1911 births 1990 deaths Fellows of the Royal Society Knights Bachelor Academics of the University of Birmingham Vice-Chancellors of the University of Southampton Alumni of the University of London Alumni of the University of Manchester People from Nantwich 20th-century British botanists 20th-century British scientists

Early life

Career

Personal life

See also

References