Peter Nye facts for kids
Peter Hague Nye was a British scientist who studied soil. He was born on September 16, 1921, and passed away on February 13, 2009. He was also a Fellow of the Royal Society, which is a big honor for scientists.
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Early Life and Education
Peter Nye was born in Hove, England, on September 16, 1921. His father, Haydn Percival Nye, was a surveyor. Peter had a younger brother, John Nye, who became a scientist studying glaciers. Their mother's father was Anderson Hague, a famous painter.
Peter went to Charterhouse School for his early education. Later, he studied at two well-known universities: Balliol College, Oxford and Christ's College, Cambridge.
Working with Soil
After World War II, Peter Nye joined the British Colonial Service. In 1947, he moved to the Gold Coast, which is now known as Ghana. There, he worked as an Agricultural Officer.
From 1950 to 1952, he taught Soil Science at the University College of Ibadan in Nigeria. Then, from 1952 to 1960, he was a Senior Lecturer in Soil Science at the University of Ghana.
Studying Shifting Cultivation
While in West Africa, Peter Nye worked with another scientist named Dennis Greenland. They studied how soil behaved under a farming method called "shifting cultivation." This is where farmers clear a piece of land, grow crops for a few years, and then move to a new area. Their research was very important and changed how people thought about farming in those regions.
Research at Oxford
After working in Africa, Nye spent a year at the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna. In 1961, he became a professor of Soil Science at the University of Oxford. He stayed there until 1988. He also helped start St Cross College, Oxford.
At Oxford, Peter Nye did groundbreaking work. He used math to create models that showed how plant roots interact with chemicals in the soil. His book, Solute movement in the soil-root system, written with P.B. Tinker, became a very important book for scientists studying plants and soil.
Personal Life and Hobbies
Peter Nye married Dorothy Aron in 1948, but they divorced after four years. In 1953, he married Phyllis Quenault. They had three children together. Peter Nye passed away on February 13, 2009, and was survived by his wife, two children, and six grandchildren.
Peter Nye was also a very active person. He played tennis and squash for his university. He also played cricket for his college. When he lived in West Africa, he played cricket for the national teams of both Nigeria and the Gold Coast. Later, in Oxford, he enjoyed canoeing and cycling.
Awards and Recognition
Peter Nye received many honors for his work:
- He was the President of the British Society of Soil Science from 1968 to 1969.
- He was a member of the Council of the International Society of Soil Science from 1968 to 1974.
- In 1987, he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society. This is one of the highest honors for scientists in the United Kingdom.
- He was also a Visiting Professor at Cornell University in the United States several times (1974, 1981, and 1989). In 1989, he gave the special Messenger Lectures.
Key Books
Peter Nye wrote several important books about soil science:
- P.H. Nye and D.J. Greenland (1960) The soil under shifting cultivation.
- P.H. Nye and P.B. Tinker (1977) Solute movement in the soil–root system.
- P.B. Tinker and P.H. Nye (2000) Solute movement in the rhizosphere.
