Cyril Harold Goulden (2 June 1897, in

Bridgend, Wales Bridgend (; or just , meaning "the end of the bridge on the Ogmore") is a town in the Bridgend County Borough of Wales, west of Cardiff and east of Swansea. The town is named after the medieval bridge over the River Ogmore. The River Ewenn ...

– 4 February 1981, in

Ottawa Ottawa is the capital city of Canada. It is located in the southern Ontario, southern portion of the province of Ontario, at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the cor ...

) was an eminent Welsh/Canadian

geneticist A geneticist is a biologist or physician who studies genetics, the science of genes, heredity, and variation of organisms. A geneticist can be employed as a scientist or a lecturer. Geneticists may perform general research on genetic process ...

statistician A statistician is a person who works with Theory, theoretical or applied statistics. The profession exists in both the private sector, private and public sectors. It is common to combine statistical knowledge with expertise in other subjects, a ...

and

agronomist An agriculturist, agriculturalist, agrologist, or agronomist (abbreviated as agr.) is a professional in the science, practice, and management of agriculture and agribusiness. It is a regulated profession in Canada, India, the Philippines, the Uni ...

who earned his PhD at the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota Twin Cities (historically known as University of Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint ...

under the supervision of Herbert Kendall Hayes. He also studied briefly with

Ronald Fisher Sir Ronald Aylmer Fisher (17 February 1890 – 29 July 1962) was a British polymath who was active as a mathematician, statistician, biologist, geneticist, and academic. For his work in statistics, he has been described as "a genius who a ...

Rothamsted Experimental Station Rothamsted Research, previously known as the Rothamsted Experimental Station and then the Institute of Arable Crops Research, is one of the oldest agricultural research institutions in the world, having been founded in 1843. It is located at Harp ...

. Son of a

homesteader Homestead may refer to: *Homestead (building), a farmhouse and its adjacent outbuildings; by extension, it can mean any small cluster of houses * Nguni homestead, a cluster of houses inhabited by a single extended family, typically with a kraal ...

, Goulden took the course for farmers at the

University of Saskatchewan The University of Saskatchewan (U of S, or USask) is a Universities in Canada, Canadian public university, public research university, founded on March 19, 1907, and located on the east side of the South Saskatchewan River in Saskatoon, Saskatch ...

and went on to do a PhD in

plant breeding Plant breeding is the science of changing the traits of plants in order to produce desired characteristics. It is used to improve the quality of plant products for use by humans and animals. The goals of plant breeding are to produce crop varie ...

before becoming chief cereal breeder at the Dominion Rust Research Laboratory,

Winnipeg Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Manitoba. It is centred on the confluence of the Red River of the North, Red and Assiniboine River, Assiniboine rivers. , Winnipeg h ...

, in 1925. In 1948 he succeeded L.H. Newman as Dominion cerealist and later became assistant deputy minister for research in the Department of Agriculture. In 1937 Goulden wrote the first North American textbook on

biostatistics Biostatistics (also known as biometry) is a branch of statistics that applies statistical methods to a wide range of topics in biology. It encompasses the design of biological experiments, the collection and analysis of data from those experimen ...

. On May 14, 1954 when receiving an Honorary Degree from his ''alma mater'', Goulden was greeted thus:

Eminent Chancellor: I present to you a man whose name is indeed golden in the ears of prairie farmers, because he makes two stems of wheat grow where previously one had sickened and remained barren. He has been a general in the continuing warfare with the farmers' great and resourceful enemy, disease of cereal crops, frustrating that enemy by creating new varieties which it is powerless to attack. His latest creation to meet the latest thrust of the enemy, rust form 15B, has only recently been released and appropriately christened "Selkirk." A distinguished alumnus of this university, Goulden was for many years in charge of the breeding of cereals at the Federal Rust Research Laboratory in Winnipeg. His achievements there included not only the successful production of new varieties but also much fundamental research which lay behind that success. At the same time he became known internationally as an investigator and author in the field of statistics particularly as applied to biological and agricultural problems. At present as Chief of the Division of Cereals of the Canada Department of Agriculture he holds one of Canada's most important scientific posts, directs the researches on cereal crops conducted by that department throughout the country, and influences all similar work in other institutions. Eminent Chancellor, on behalf of the Council and Senate of this university I ask that you confer on Cyril Harold Goulden the degree of Doctor of Laws, honoris causa.

He also developed 6 varieties of

rust Rust is an iron oxide, a usually reddish-brown oxide formed by the reaction of iron and oxygen in the catalytic presence of water or air moisture. Rust consists of hydrous iron(III) oxides (Fe2O3·nH2O) and iron(III) oxide-hydroxide (FeO(OH) ...

-resistant

oat The oat (''Avena sativa''), sometimes called the common oat, is a species of cereal grain grown for its seed, which is known by the same name (usually in the plural). Oats appear to have been domesticated as a secondary crop, as their seeds ...

References

1897 births 1981 deaths Canadian people of Welsh descent Canadian geneticists Canadian statisticians Fellows of the American Statistical Association British emigrants to Canada {{agri-stub