James Arthur Prescott

James Arthur Prescott, CBE, FRS, (7 October 1890-6 February 1987) was an agricultural scientist. Prescott was born in England, educated at the University of Manchester achieving Bachelor of Science with First Class Honours in 1911. The following year he was awarded the first postgraduate scholarship in agricultural science taken at Rothamsted Experimental Station at Harpenden. From 1916 to 1924, Prescott worked for Sultanic Agricultural Society o... more

James Arthur Prescott, CBE, FRS, (7 October 1890-6 February 1987) was an agricultural scientist. Prescott was born in England, educated at the University of Manchester achieving Bachelor of Science with First Class Honours in 1911. The following year he was awarded the first postgraduate scholarship in agricultural science taken at Rothamsted Experimental Station at Harpenden. From 1916 to 1924, Prescott worked for Sultanic Agricultural Society of Egypt. There he produced 13 scientific papers, including four on the study of nitrogen in the soil, and alkalinity of Egyptian soils. In 1919 he was awarded a Master of Science by the University of Manchester based on a thesis of his phosphate studies while at Rothamsted. From 1924 until his death Prescott worked in Australia, initially as Chair of Agricultural Chemistry at the University of Adelaide. He published in CSIR bulletin 52 the 'The Soils of Australia in Relation to Vegetation and Climate' at a scale of 1:19 x 10*6. This paper was... less