Francis John Richards facts for kids

Francis John Richards (October 1, 1901 – January 2, 1965) was an English scientist. He studied how plants grow and use nutrients. This field is called plant physiology. Richards was especially interested in how much of certain minerals plants need. He was also the first to describe a special math formula in 1959. This formula is known as the generalised logistic function. It helps describe how things grow over time.

Early Life and School

Richards was born in Burton upon Trent, England. He was the third of four children. From a young age, he loved nature and looking at the stars.

He went to Burton-on-Trent Grammar School. There, his teacher, Mr. Storer, encouraged his interest in biology. Richards earned high marks in math, physics, chemistry, and biology.

University Studies

In 1921, Richards started studying at the University of Birmingham. He worked with Professor R. H. Yapp. Richards studied the plants and environment of salt marshes. He also surveyed the Dovey estuary.

He graduated in 1924 with honors in Botany and Biochemistry. He then stayed for 18 months to earn his Master of Science (MSc) degree. For his master's, he studied how fungi breathe, working with J. R. Elliot.

Career in Plant Science

In April 1926, Richards joined the Imperial College Institute of Plant Physiology. This was located at the Rothamsted Experimental Station. He worked with F.G. Gregory. Their goal was to figure out exactly how much nitrogen, potassium, and phosphorus cereal crops needed to grow. They used barley plants for their experiments.

Richards was special because he used new ways to analyze data. These methods were developed by R.A. Fisher. Richards also created diagrams to show the results of his experiments. These diagrams helped explain how different factors affected plant growth.

Mineral Nutrition and Plant Health

Richards continued to study how minerals affect plants. He looked at how plants breathe and take in nitrogen when they don't have enough minerals. He made several important discoveries:

• If plants didn't have enough nitrogen, it didn't change their protein or nitrogen content. But it did slow down their breathing.
• Lack of phosphorus made it hard for plants to make proteins.
• Too much phosphorus could mean the plant didn't have enough potassium.
• The amount of potassium in a plant affected many processes. This depended on how balanced the other minerals were.

Potassium Research

Richards was very interested in potassium. He showed that another element, rubidium, could sometimes do what potassium does for plants. He also found that potassium, carbohydrates, and water all worked together. This helped explain why different studies had found different things about how juicy plant leaves were.

He also studied amino acids in leaves. He found that a substance called putrescine built up in barley plants that lacked potassium. If putrescine was added to plants, it could cause symptoms of potassium deficiency. He also found that different plants, like flax and clover, built up different substances related to putrescine.

Mathematical Models

Richards also used math to describe plant growth. He created a new way to describe phyllotaxis. This is the pattern of leaves or other parts on a plant stem. He also improved a growth formula called the von Bertalanffy function. His improved version became known as the generalised logistic function. This formula is used to describe many types of growth patterns.

Later Career and Recognition

In 1954, Richards was chosen to be a member of the Royal Society. This is a very important scientific group. After F.G. Gregory retired in 1958, Richards became the director of a new research group. This group studied plant nutrition and how plants develop. In 1961, he moved this group to Wye College.

During his career, Richards also helped edit scientific journals. He was an executive editor for Plant and Soil and an associate editor for the Journal of Experimental Biology.

Personal Life

Francis Richards was married and had two daughters. His wife sometimes helped him with his research. Richards had many hobbies outside of science. He enjoyed archaeology, photography, and studying numbers. He even built his own telescope. He also collected and bred butterflies and moths.