Sir John Lawes

Graeme Sneddon on the man who transformed agricultural science

The Biologist Vol 61(4) p24-27

Modern agriculture – an industry that last year produced 20.7 million tonnes of wheat and barley in the UK alone – would not be possible without the innovation and scientific genius of people like Sir John Bennet Lawes. His experiments at what is now Rothamsted Research investigated the effects of different fertilisers on the yields of various crops. Some of his experiments, known as the Classical Experiments, are still running to this day, providing inspiration and valuable data for biologists...

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