Daniel McAlpine

Daniel McAlpine (21 January 1849 – 12 October 1932) was a Scottish-born Australian mycologist known for his research in plant pathology. He wrote several publications on plant disease in many crops and other plants. McAlpine was a lecturer in biology at the University of Melbourne from 1884, and, with his appointment to the Victorian Department of Agriculture from 1890 to 1911, became the British Empire's first professional plant pathologist.

Early life

He was born in Saltcoats, Scotland, the third son of schoolmaster Daniel McAlpine and his wife Flora. The young Daniel attended Ardeer School, where his father taught. McAlpine graduated from the University of London in 1873, where he attended lectures given by such luminaries as Thomas Henry Huxley (biology), William Turner Thiselton-Dyer (botany), Archibald Geikie (geology), and Robert Etheridge (paleontology). McAlpine was later appointed professor of natural history at the New Veterinary College in Edinburgh, and then lecturer in biology and botany at the Heriot-Watt College. He was succeeded in this position in 1913 by Charles Clifton Brittlebank, his assistant from 1908. Brittlebank provided illustrations for several of McAlpine's publications.

McAlpine regularly corresponded with geologist Sir Archibald Geikie, and occasionally with his younger brother James Geikie. McAlpine had a long friendship with David Orme Masson, Professor of Chemistry at the University of Melbourne known for his work on the explosive compound nitroglycerine.

McAlpine died in Leitchville on 12 October 1932.

Cited literature Parbery, Douglas George (2015). Daniel McAlpine and the Bitter Pit. Australian Plant Pathology ISBN 9783319095516.