// Workers AI · dad joke modeWho's Roscoe Wilfred Thatcher? A thatcher by trade, that's a-maize-ing.
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Roscoe Wilfred Thatcher (c. 1872 – 6 December 1933) was an American agricultural chemist and academic administrator. He directed agricultural experiment stations in Washington, Minnesota, and New York before becoming president of the Massachusetts Agricultural College in 1927. When the institution was renamed Massachusetts State College in 1931, Thatcher became its first president under the new name.[1]
Biography
[edit]Before joining Minnesota, Thatcher directed the Washington Agricultural Experiment Station from 1907 to 1913 and headed the Department of Agriculture at Washington State College from 1910 to 1913. He also served as secretary of the Washington State Grain Growers, Shippers and Millers Association from 1908 to 1912.[2] In 1913, he joined the University of Minnesota as chief of the Division of Agricultural Biochemistry. Four years later, he became dean of the Department of Agriculture.[3]
In 1921, Thatcher became director of the New York State Agricultural Experiment Station at Geneva, New York. That year, McGraw-Hill published his book The Chemistry of Plant Life.[4]
In 1927, Thatcher accepted the presidency of the Massachusetts Agricultural College. He was the institution's last president under that name and became the first president of Massachusetts State College when it was renamed in 1931.[1] During his presidency, the two-year program in practical agriculture was expanded into the Stockbridge School of Agriculture. The college reached a record enrollment of 894 students in 1929, including 60 women, and Thatcher oversaw curriculum reforms and the establishment of a student health service.[1] In November 1924, President Calvin Coolidge appointed Thatcher to an Agricultural Commission established to investigate agricultural conditions and recommend measures for improving the industry.[5] After leaving the college presidency because of ill health, Thatcher returned to Massachusetts State College in April 1933 as a research professor of agricultural chemistry.[1] He died in his laboratory on 6 December 1933.[1]
Thatcher House, a residence hall at UMass Amherst, was erected in 1935 and named in his honor.[6]
Works
[edit]- The Chemistry of Plant Life. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1921.
Footnotes
[edit]- 1 2 3 4 5 "Past Presidents". University of Massachusetts Office of the President. Retrieved August 9, 2026.
- ↑ "Roscoe Wilfred Thatcher Papers, 1908–1912". Archives West. Washington State University Libraries, Manuscripts, Archives, and Special Collections. Retrieved August 9, 2026.
- ↑ "History of the Department of Biochemistry 1888–1996". University of Minnesota College of Biological Sciences. Retrieved August 9, 2026.
- ↑ Thatcher, Roscoe W. (1921). The Chemistry of Plant Life. McGraw-Hill. Retrieved August 9, 2026.
- ↑ "Agricultural Commission Named by President Coolidge". Commercial and Financial Chronicle. Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, FRASER. November 22, 1924. Retrieved August 9, 2026.
- ↑ Facts and Figures (PDF) (Report). University of Massachusetts Amherst. 1967. Retrieved August 10, 2026.
External links
[edit]- Works by Roscoe Wilfred Thatcher at Project Gutenberg
- Works by or about Roscoe Wilfred Thatcher at the Internet Archive
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Other | |
- 1870s births
- 1933 deaths
- American agriculturalists
- People from Medina County, Ohio
- Scientists from Ohio
- University of Nebraska–Lincoln alumni
- Washington State University faculty
- University of Minnesota faculty
- University of Massachusetts Amherst faculty
- 20th-century American chemists
- Presidents of the American Society of Agronomy