Collection KM - Kenneth Mather collection

Extent: c40 boxes

Admin History: Kenneth Mather was born at Nantwich, Cheshire in 1911 and educated at Acton Grammar School and Manchester University, where he gained a first class degree in Botany in 1931. He was University of Manchester Ministry of Agriculture Scholar from 1931 until 1934. On graduating, he joined the staff of the John Innes Horticultural Institution, (which was then located at Merton, Surrey), to study genetics and cytology. Here he worked on a cytological examination of the root tips of 64 species and varieties of Crocus; meiosis in lilies; polyploid series in Prunus; the effects of X-rays on the somatic chromosomes of Crocus species and a Tulipa variety and the inheritance and mechanism of the production of mosaic flowers in Antirrhinum. In September 1933 Mather moved to Svalöf in Sweden to spend the third year of his Ministry of Agriculture scholarship there under Professor Nilsson-Ehle. The following year Mather was appointed Assistant Lecturer in the Galton Laboratory's Department of Eugenics at University College, London. By June 1937 he had gained promotion to Lecturer. His work with Ronald Fisher at University College proved to be of signal importance to his future career. Although he had no formal training in mathematics, Mather had "a flair for presenting statistical analysis in a from that could be understood, applied and interpreted by others." This culminated in The Measurement of Linkage in Heredity (1938) and Statistical Analysis in Biology (1948), both of which became standard works and ones which are still in use today. In October 1937 Mather started work at Pasadena, California, where, as a Rockefeller Foundation Scholar, he was to study the mechanism of crossing-over with T.H.Morgan at the California Institute of Technology. He returned the following Autumn to resume work at John Innes, this time as Acting Head of the Genetics Department. Here he began investigations on various aspects of the inheritance of polygenic characters and selection experiments on hair number in Drosophila melanogaster. The following year Mather was made head of the Genetics Department at John Innes. By now war had broken out, and special measures had to be taken, as the John Innes Report for 1939 states: "To make good the reduction of area under experimental crops and, at the same time, reduce the cost of experiments, genetic work is being partly transferred indoors. Dr.Mather is studying the problem of inbreeding in Drosophila with a view to applying the principles to crop plants." He also started investigations on various aspects of the inheritance of polygenic characters, using a number of different species. Another result of war measures was the Chairman's suggestion that "drug plants" should be cultivated at John Innes. With the co-operation of Professor L.J.Witts, chairman of the Therapeutic Requirements Committee of the Medical Research Council, a collection of species was made. Mather was to carry out selection work with the assistance of the Pharmaceutical Society. He also continued with polygenetic investigations on Drosophila, beans, barley, tomatoes and Petunia. Later work at John Innes by Mather and his department included studies on heterostyly in Primula sinensis, the breeding system and genetic isolation in Antirrhinum and polygenic inheritance. In 1940 Mather obtained his DSc for his outstanding work on the study of chromosome behaviour, on which he had published widely. However promising these investigations may have been, Mather nevertheless accepted the offer of the newly established Chair of Genetics at the University of Birmingham in October 1948. The John Innes Director, C.D.Darlington, gave him an accolade in the Annual Report for that year: "Dr.Mather has spent 12 fruitful years with us, first from 1931 to 1933 when he did much pioneer work in cytology and, secondly, from 1938 until the present year. During this period, fortified by the experience he had had with Rasmusson, Fisher, East and Morgan, he has applied methods of such extreme thoroughness to the study of quantitative variation as to make almost a new science of it. Dr.Mather had just sent to press a new book on Biometrical Genetics and had completed two works in collaboration with myself, The Elements of Genetics and Genes, Plants and People, a volume of collected essays. It was clear that Dr.Mather was marked out to found a new school in genetics and, while his loss is a severe blow, there is no doubt of the service he will be able to render us in his new post..." Mather stayed at Birmingham from 1948 until 1965, building up the Department of Genetics to one "which had a world-wide reputation for all aspects of genetics (in particular biometrical genetics), and which turned out numerous, now well-established, geneticists." It was during this time that he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society - in 1949. Mather became gradually more and more involved in external administrative duties. Apart from university administration, he served on the Agricultural Research Council and was on the governing body of many research stations; he was also President of the Genetical Society and edited the international journal Heredity. In 1965 he accepted the post of Vice-Chancellor of Southampton University. The university was undergoing a phase of great expansion, doubling its numbers during his term of office. Mather played a large part in securing and consolidating its new Medical School. In the sixties, during the difficult years of student unrest, Mather not only acted as Vice-Chancellor of Southampton University, but also gave lectures and even found time to run a research programme there. In 1971 Mather returned to Birmingham as an Honorary Professor and Senior Research Fellow; here he concentrated on his first love: research. He was still engaged in writing research papers when he died, on March 20th 1990, aged 78. Mather wrote over 280 papers and 11 books, some of which have become classics and are still consulted today.