James Arthur Prescott,

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, (7 October 1890 – 6 February 1987) was an agricultural scientist. Prescott was born in England, educated at the

University of Manchester , 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 ...

achieving

Bachelor of Science 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 ...

with First Class Honours in 1911. The following year he was awarded the first postgraduate scholarship in agricultural science taken at

Rothamsted Experimental Station Rothamsted Research, previously known as the Rothamsted Experimental Station and then the Institute of Arable Crops Research, is one of the oldest agricultural research institutions in the world, having been founded in 1843. It is located at Harp ...

Harpenden Harpenden () is a town and civil parish in the City and District of St Albans in the county of Hertfordshire, England. The population of the built-up area was 30,240 in the 2011 census, whilst the population of the civil parish was 29,448. Har ...

. From 1916 to 1924, Prescott worked for Sultanic Agricultural Society of Egypt. There he produced 13 scientific papers, including four on the study of

nitrogen Nitrogen is the chemical element with the symbol N and atomic number 7. Nitrogen is a nonmetal and the lightest member of group 15 of the periodic table, often called the pnictogens. It is a common element in the universe, estimated at se ...

in the soil, and alkalinity of Egyptian soils. In 1919 he was awarded a

Master of Science A Master of Science ( la, Magisterii Scientiae; abbreviated MS, M.S., MSc, M.Sc., SM, S.M., ScM or Sc.M.) is a master's degree in the field of science awarded by universities in many countries or a person holding such a degree. In contrast to ...

by the

based on a thesis of his

phosphate In chemistry, a phosphate is an anion, salt, functional group or ester derived from a phosphoric acid. It most commonly means orthophosphate, a derivative of orthophosphoric acid . The phosphate or orthophosphate ion is derived from phospho ...

studies while at Rothamsted. From 1924 until his death Prescott worked in Australia, initially as Chair of Agricultural Chemistry at the

University of Adelaide The University of Adelaide (informally Adelaide University) is a public research university located in Adelaide, South Australia. Established in 1874, it is the third-oldest university in Australia. The university's main campus is located on N ...

. He published in ''CSIR bulletin 52'' 'The Soils of Australia in Relation to Vegetation and Climate' at a scale of 1:19 x 10*6. This paper was the basis of his submission to the

for which he was awarded the degree of

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 ...

in 1932. Prescott produced 'Atmospheric Saturation Deficit in Australia' in 1931 and with H.G. Poole, 'The relationships between Sticky Point, Moisture Equivalent and Mechanical Analysis in some Australian Soils' in 1934. Prescott was Chairman of the CSIR Oenological Research Committee 1938–1955 and a member of the Council of the Australian Wine Research Institute 1955–1970. In 1954 he became a Foundation

fellow of the Australian Academy of Science The Fellowship of the Australian Academy of Science is made up of about 500 Australian scientists. Scientists judged by their peers to have made an exceptional contribution to knowledge in their field may be elected to Fellowship of the Academy. ...

Honours

*1931 H. G. Smith Memorial Award of the

Royal Australian Chemical Institute The Royal Australian Chemical Institute (RACI) is both the qualifying body in Australia for professional chemists and a learned society promoting the science and practice of chemistry in all its branches. The RACI hosts conferences, seminars and ...

*1938 Joseph Verco Medal of the

Royal Society of South Australia The Royal Society of South Australia (RSSA) is a learned society whose interest is in science, particularly, but not only, of South Australia. The major aim of the society is the promotion and diffusion of scientific knowledge, particularly in rel ...

*1947 Commander of the Order of the British Empire *1948 John Lewis Medal of the South Australian Branch of the

Royal Geographical Society The Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers), often shortened to RGS, is a learned society and professional body for geography based in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1830 for the advancement of geographical scien ...

*1948 Farrer Medal of the Farrer Memorial Trust of New South Wales *1950 Australian Medal of Agricultural Science of the Australian Institute of Agricultural Science *1954 Mueller Medal of the

Australian and New Zealand Association for the Advancement of Science The Australian and New Zealand Association for the Advancement of Science (ANZAAS) is an organisation that was founded in 1888 as the Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science to promote science. It was modelled on the British As ...

*1956 Honorary Degree of Doctor of Agricultural Science,

University of Melbourne The University of Melbourne is a public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in Victoria. Its main campus is located in Parkville, an inner suburb nor ...

The Australian Society of Soil Science established the J.A. Prescott Medal in 1971 to be awarded for outstanding contributions to soil science and climatology.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Prescott, James Arthur 1890 births 1987 deaths Australian agronomists Australian soil scientists British soil scientists Australian people of English descent Fellows of the Royal Society Fellows of the Australian Academy of Science Commanders of the Order of the British Empire People educated at Accrington Grammar School Academic staff of the University of Adelaide Farrer Medal recipients 20th-century agronomists