Arthur, Joseph Charles, 1850-1942
Dates
- Existence: January 11, 1850 - April 30, 1942
Biographical Information
Dr. Joseph C. Arthur, world renowned botanist and educator, was born in Lowville, New York,
on January 11, 1850. He was the only son of Charles and Ann Arthur. Arthur’s family moved to
Charles City, Iowa, when he was a young boy. Arthur graduated from Iowa Agricultural College
(Iowa State University) with a B.S. in botany in 1872, becoming a member of the college’s first
graduating class. He later received his M.S. degree in botany from Iowa in 1877, the first M.S.
degree conferred by the college. He went on to receive his doctorate (Sc.D.) in plant pathology
and mycology from Cornell University in 1886. Arthur studied at Johns Hopkins University,
Harvard University, and Bonn in Germany.
In 1876, Arthur won a major award at the Philadelphia Centennial Exposition for his
physiological apparatus. He later won prizes at the Columbian and Centennial of Progress world
fairs in Chicago. Arthur went on to become a professor at the universities of Minnesota and
Wisconsin, and wrote a famous book on plant dissection.
He became an Instructor at the University of Wisconsin in 1879, and in 1882 he became an
Instructor at the University of Minnesota. Arthur served as botanist at the Agricultural
Experiment Station in Geneva, New York, from 1884 to 1886. In 1887, Arthur joined Purdue
University as a Professor of Botany, and under his leadership the Department of Botany and
Plant Pathology was formed at Purdue. Arthur was the first botanist of Purdue’s Agricultural
Experiment Station.
In 1901, Arthur married Emily Stiles Potter. In 1905, he served as delegate to the international
botanical congress in Vienna. He was also delegate to the 1910 botanical congress in Brussels
and the 1930 botanical congress in Cambridge. Arthur devoted the majority his career to the
study of plant rust fungi, writing numerous articles and several books on the subject. Selected
works include The Plant Rusts (1929) and Manual of the Rusts in the United States and Canada
(1934). Considered by some to be the “Dean of American Plant Pathologists,” Arthur won
international recognition for his discoveries in plant rusts and his many other botanical
achievements. He was an outstanding contributor to the knowledge of plant diseases, and his
work helped increase food supplies. Of special importance was his discovery of the use of
formaldehyde as a fungicide, particularly for treating oats smut and potato scab.
Arthur retired from Purdue in 1915, and was subsequently named Emeritus Professor of Botany.
In 1918, he formally donated the herbarium he had founded for the university, which
documented his groundbreaking research in plant rust, to Purdue. The Arthur Herbarium is
comprised of approximately 60,000 specimens, and includes Arthur’s working notes, drawings,
and photographs. The Herbarium still exists today as a leading resource for research in the study
of plant rust fungi.
Several institutions awarded honorary degrees to Arthur, including the University of Iowa
(1916), Iowa State College (1920), and Purdue University (1931). Arthur was a member of the
American Association for the Advancement of Science, a charter member and president of the
Indiana Academy of Science (president, 1893), a two-time president of the Botanical Society of
America (1902; 1910), and president of the American Phytopathological Society (1933). He
died on April 30, 1942 in Brook, Indiana, at 92 years of age.