Thomas Andrew Knight

1759-1838 English

Thomas Andrew Knight

Pionier der Pflanzenphysiologie

Thomas Andrew Knight war ein britischer Gärtner und Botaniker. Er diente als zweiter Präsident der Royal Horticultural Society (1811–1838). Er wurde in Wormesley Grange geboren, fünf Meilen nordwestlich von Hereford in Herefordshire, als zweiter Sohn des Reverend Thomas Knight (1697–1764) von Wormsley Grange, Pfarrer von Bewdley in Worcestershire, und seiner Ehefrau Ursula Nash, einer Tochter von Frederick Nash aus Dinham in Shropshire. He attended Balliol College, Oxford. After graduation, he took up the study of horticulture. Attention was first called to his work in 1795 by the publication of the results of his research into the propagation of fruit trees and the diseases prevalent among them. He used 10,000 acres (4,000 ha) of land he inherited to conduct breeding of plants including strawberries, cabbages and peas and built an extensive greenhouse. In 1797 he published his Treatise on the Culture of the Apple and Pear, and on the Manufacture of Cider and Perry, a work which passed through several editions. He was one of the leading students of horticulture in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, but his personal papers disappeared after his death. Knight führte grundlegende physiologische Experimente an Pflanzen durch, was zuvor nur selten getan worden war. Er klärte die Auswirkungen der Schwerkraft auf Sämlinge und wie Fäulnis bei Obstbäumen durch Veredelung übertragen wird.

Artworks by this artist (30 total)