Pioneer Leaders in Plant Pathology: Gerald Thorne

Abstract

Gerald Thorne in 1915 rode a saddle horse down a mountain trail in Utah to further his education and enhance his proficiency in teaching school, an activity in which he had been involved since 1911 after leaving his home ranch near Vernal, Utah (3). Rather than continue his teaching career in isolated one-room public schools in Utah and Wyoming, Gerald Thorne followed the advice of a boyhood friend and enrolled in Utah Agricultural College at Logan. There he came in contact with Dr. E. G. Titus, Head of the Department of Entomology and Zoology. In 1917, Dr. Titus took Thorne to his first sugar beet field and pointed out plants that were dying or severely stunted and showed him cysts of the sugar beet nematode that apparently were responsible for this problem. Dr. Titus indicated to Thorne that no one in the entire country was working on this problem. He further suggested that Thome should get busy on it! When Dr. Titus transferred to the USDA in 1917, he initiated plans for a scientific assistant who was to begin investigations on the sugar beet cyst nematode. Upon graduation in 1918, Gerald Thome filled this position, thereby beginning a long and distinguished career in nematological research.