Alice Withrow

Alice Victoria Phillips Withrow (September 5, 1907 – April 28, 1998) was an American botanist, plant physiologist and researcher of plant photochemistry.[1] Her focus of study was "the effect of light on the flowering and reproduction of plants" and along with her husband she developed a pioneering method of hydroponics.[2][3][4]

Alice Withrow
Popular Mechanics, Oct. 1946
BornAlice Victoria Phillips
September 5, 1907 Edit this on Wikidata
Louisville, Kentucky
DiedApril 28, 1998 Edit this on Wikidata (aged 90)
Montgomery County, Maryland
OccupationBotanist Edit this on Wikidata
Position heldplant physiologist (1951–1958) Edit this on Wikidata

Biography

Withrow was born on September 5, 1907 in Louisville, Kentucky to Roscoe M. and Ollie (Snawder) Phillips.[5][6] She attended Butler University (B.A. degree, botany, 1929) and University of Cincinnati (M.A. degree, 1931), where her master's thesis "Life forms and leaf size classes of certain plant communities of the Cincinnati region" was overseen by Emma Lucy Braun[4][7] and published 1932 in the journal Ecology.[8] In 1931, she married Robert Bruce Withrow. Their honeymoon trip was the journey to Purdue University where they both had new jobs[2] and she later completed her Ph.D.[5][9][10]

During World War II Withrow and her husband were consulting scientists for the U.S. Air Force on the problem of growing plants without soil, in part so that the military could "grow perishable vegetables on sandy bases in the Pacific."[2] In May 1945 Withrow was preparing hydroponics kits for shipment to Canton Island, Espiritu and Ascension Island, with later installations planned for Port Moresby and Karachi.[11] A 2006 timeline of the history of hydroponic growing credited Withrow and her husband with introducing "inert gravel" as a growing medium, and noted that in 1945 the Air Force constructed a hydroponic farm on Wake Island that produced tomatoes, string beans, sweet corn and lettuce.[12] In late 1945 she lectured in Chicago on "soil-less culture and the effect of various spectrum colors on the growth rate of plants."[13] After the war, the Withrows published a paper comparing the use of mercury, incandescent and the new fluorescent lamps for growing plants.[14] The Withrows' research was featured in the science magazine Popular Mechanics in October 1946.[15]

In 1948 the Withrows relocated to the Smithsonian.[2] In 1956 they co-authored a book chapter on "Generation, control, and measurement of visible and near-visible radiant energy" that was considered an "excellent and thorough review of the problems concerned with lighting."[16]

Withrow wrote the preface to a posthumously published book edited by her husband, Photoperiodism and related phenomena in plants and animals.[17] In the 1960s and 1970s, Withrow led the educational materials and instruction development division of the U.S. National Science Foundation.[18][19]

Withrow had one child, Anne V. Withrow-Dalager (1934–1996).[2][20][21] Withrow died on April 29, 1998, in Montgomery County, Maryland.[22]

Selected works

References
  1. Aoyagi, William Shurtleff; Akiko (July 19, 2021). History of Soybean Physiology and Botany Research (250 BCE to 2021): Extensively Annotated Bibliography and Sourcebook. Soyinfo Center. ISBN 978-1-948436-44-1. Archived from the original on 2023-04-24. Retrieved 2023-01-29.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  2. "Scientists Combine Homelife and Career". Wichita Falls Record News. Wichita Falls, Texas. Associated Press Women's News. September 8, 1953. p. 6. Archived from the original on 2023-03-12. Retrieved 2023-03-11 – via Newspapers.com.
  3. Withrow, Alice P.; Withrow, Robert B. (October 1, 1947). "Plant Growth with Artificial Sources of Radiant Energy". Plant Physiology. 22 (4): 494–513. doi:10.1104/pp.22.4.494. ISSN 0032-0889. PMC 405889. PMID 16654118. Archived from the original on 2023-04-24. Retrieved 2023-01-10.
  4. Crump, Martha L.; Lannoo, Michael J. (2022). Women in Field Biology: A Journey into Nature. Routledge. pp. n.p. doi:10.1201/9781003311508. ISBN 9780367820350. S2CID 249944980. Archived from the original on 2023-03-12. Retrieved 2023-01-29.
  5. Who's Who of American Women and Women of Canada. A.N. Marquis Company. 1968. p. 1336.
  6. "Alice Victoria Phillips, 1907". Kentucky Births and Christenings, 1839–1960. FamilySearch.org. Archived from the original on 2023-03-12. Retrieved 2023-03-11.
  7. Stuckey, Ronald L. (1971). "E. Lucy Braun (1889–1971): Outstanding Botanist and Conservationist, a Biographical Sketch with Bibliography". Michigan Botanist. Ann Arbor: Michigan Botanical Club. 12: 96. Archived from the original on 2023-03-12. Retrieved 2023-03-12 – via Biodiversity Heritage Library.
  8. Withrow, Alice Phillips (January 1932). "Life Forms and Leaf Size Classes of Certain Plant Communities of the Cincinnati Region". Ecology. 13 (1): 12–35. doi:10.2307/1932488. JSTOR 1932488. Archived from the original on 2023-04-24. Retrieved 2023-03-12.
  9. "Graduate Degrees Awarded 1897–1966 in Botany and Plant Pathology". Purdue University Herbarium. 1966. Archived from the original on 2022-11-15. Retrieved 2023-01-10 – via Purdue University Libraries and School of Information Studies E-Archives.
  10. Withrow, Alice Phillips (June 1941). The Responses of Certain Long and Short Day Plants to Intensity and Wavelength of Radiation and Nitrogen Nutrition (Ph.D. thesis). Purdue University. ProQuest 27708504. Archived from the original on 2023-03-12. Retrieved 2023-03-12.
  11. "Air Corps to Grow Salads in Water". The Journal Times. Racine, Wisconsin. May 24, 1945. p. 6. Archived from the original on 2023-03-12. Retrieved 2023-03-11 – via Newspapers.com.
  12. "Hydroponic Greenhouse". Brainstorm. Courier-Post. Camden, N.J. March 17, 2006. p. 70. Archived from the original on 2023-03-12. Retrieved 2023-03-11 – via Newspapers.com.
  13. "Gardeners Get Tips on How to Grow Plants Without Sun or Soil". Chicago Tribune. November 29, 1945. p. 12. Archived from the original on 2023-03-12. Retrieved 2023-03-12 – via Newspapers.com.
  14. Sage, Linda C. (December 2, 2012). Pigment of the Imagination: A History of Phytochrome Research. Elsevier. pp. 61–66. ISBN 978-0-323-13854-3. Archived from the original on 2023-03-12. Retrieved 2023-03-11.
  15. Kinsey, John R. (October 1946). "Throwing Light on Mother Nature". Popular Mechanics. Vol. 86, no. 4. Hearst Magazines. pp. 126–128. ISSN 0032-4558. Archived from the original on 2023-03-12. Retrieved 2023-03-12.
  16. Salisbury, Frank B. (1963). The Flowering Process. International series of monographs on pure and applied biology. Division, Plant physiology ;v. 4. New York: Macmillan. p. 82. doi:10.5962/bhl.title.6229. LCCN 63019739. OCLC 647086017. OL 5887079M. Archived from the original on 2023-03-12. Retrieved 2023-03-12 – via HathiTrust.
  17. Withrow, Robert B., ed. (1959). Photoperiodism and related phenomena in plants and animals; proceedings. Conference on Photoperiodism. Washington, D.C.: American Association for the Advancement of Science. pp. v–vi. doi:10.5962/bhl.title.6282. LCCN 59010144. OCLC 665164. OL 5887079M. Publication No. 55. Archived from the original on 2023-03-12. Retrieved 2023-03-12 – via HathiTrust.
  18. "Ten to Give Science Talk". Ithaca Cornell Daily Sun. May 17, 1961. p. 6.
  19. RANN 2: Realizing Knowledge as a Resource : Proceedings of the Second Symposium on Research Applied to National Needs, Washington Hilton, Washington, D.C., November 7–9, 1976. National Science Foundation. 1977. Archived from the original on 2023-03-12. Retrieved 2023-03-12.
  20. "Dr. Robert B. Withrow, 54, Noted Expert on Plant Life". Obituaries. Evening Star. Washington, D.C. April 9, 1958. p. 40. Archived from the original on 2023-03-12. Retrieved 2023-03-11 – via Newspapers.com.
  21. "ANNE WITHROW-DALAGER Real Estate Agent". The Washington Post. November 20, 1996. pp. B4. ProQuest 307954978. Archived from the original on 2017-08-28. Retrieved 2023-03-11.
  22. "Alice P Withrow, 28 Apr 1998". United States Social Security Death Index database, citing U.S. Social Security Administration, Death Master File. FamilySearch.org. Archived from the original on 2023-03-12. Retrieved 2023-03-12.
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