Margaret Newton

Margaret Newton (born April 20, 1887 in Montreal , † April 6, 1971 in Victoria (British Columbia) ) was a Canadian plant pathologist who is known for research on black cereal rust .

Newton grew up on a farm in western Québec , trained as a teacher and began her research on cereal rust in 1917 as an agriculture student at McGill University (Macdonald College) after an epidemic of cereal fungal disease emerged in western Canada in 1916. After completing her bachelor's degree in 1918 and master's degree in 1919, she worked from 1920 at a state laboratory at the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon (where she was also an assistant professor), while at the same time doing her PhD (Ph.D. with Elvin C. Stakman ). From 1924 she was at the Dominian Rust Research Laboratory in Winnipeg , where she initiated monitoring programs for grain rust. In doing so, she made significant advances in the genetics of the fungi that cause cereal rust, as well as studying their life cycle, origin and physiology. She also worked with breeders to create more resilient types of grain. She gained an international reputation as a grain rust expert. In 1945 she gave up her position at the laboratory for health reasons, but continued to advise, for example in Africa and Russia (first in 1933).

She was one of the editors of Phytopathology . In 1969 she received an honorary doctorate from the University of Saskatchewan. In 2008 a plaque was placed in her honor in Portage la Prairie . In 1948 she received the Flavelle Medal from the Royal Society of Canada . In 1942 she became the second woman Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada.

Web links

• Robert Arnason, Rust scientist remembered for pionieering work, 2008