Percy Wragg Brian

Percy Wragg Brian FRS FRSE CBE (5 September 1910 – 17 August 1979) was a British botanist and mycologist. He was critical to the development of plant pathology and natural antibiotics such as Gibberellin and Griseofulvin.

Life

He was born in Hall Green, Yardley to Percy Brian (1881–1945), a schoolteacher from Macclesfield and his wife Adelaide Wragg. He graduated from King's College, Cambridge in 1931. He was awarded a PhD in 1936 and DSc in 1951, and he was elected a Fellow of Queens' College, Cambridge in 1968.

His first employment was as Assistant Mycologist at Long Ashton Research Station where he worked from 1934 to 1936. In 1936 he began at ICI's facility at Jealott's Hill

He was President of the British Mycological Society in 1959 and 1965; President of the Association of Applied Biologists in 1961; and President of the Society of General Microbiology from 1965 to 1968.