Thomas Jonathan Burrill (April 25, 1839 – April 14, 1916) was an American

botanist Botany, also called plant science, is the branch of natural science and biology studying plants, especially Plant anatomy, their anatomy, Plant taxonomy, taxonomy, and Plant ecology, ecology. A botanist or plant scientist is a scientist who s ...

, plant pathologist, and college administrator who first discovered

bacterial Bacteria (; : bacterium) are ubiquitous, mostly free-living organisms often consisting of one biological cell. They constitute a large domain of prokaryotic microorganisms. Typically a few micrometres in length, bacteria were among the ...

causes for plant disease. He introduced '' Erwinia amylovora'' (called by him ''Micrococcus amylovorus'') as the causal agent of pear fire blight. Born in

Pittsfield, Massachusetts Pittsfield is the most populous city and the county seat of Berkshire County, Massachusetts, United States. It is the principal city of the Pittsfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area which encompasses all of Berkshire County. Pittsfi ...

, he moved with his family at age 9 to a farm in

Stephenson County, Illinois Stephenson County is a county located in the U.S. state of Illinois. According to the 2020 United States census, it had a population of 44,630. Its county seat is Freeport. Stephenson County is included in the Freeport, IL Micropolitan Sta ...

. Burrill graduated Illinois State Normal University in 1865, and then worked for two years as superintendent of the Urbana public schools. He received his

PhD A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

from the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, or UChi) is a Private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Its main campus is in the Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood on Chicago's South Side, Chic ...

in 1881. Burrill was selected by

John Wesley Powell John Wesley Powell (March 24, 1834 – September 23, 1902) was an American geologist, U.S. Army soldier, explorer of the American West, professor at Illinois Wesleyan University, and director of major scientific and cultural institutions. He ...

to be the botanist for an expedition to the

Colorado Colorado is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States. It is one of the Mountain states, sharing the Four Corners region with Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. It is also bordered by Wyoming to the north, Nebraska to the northeast, Kansas ...

Rocky Mountains The Rocky Mountains, also known as the Rockies, are a major mountain range and the largest mountain system in North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch in great-circle distance, straight-line distance from the northernmost part of Western Can ...

in 1867. Eight of 12 members of the expedition party made an ascent of

Pikes Peak Pikes Peak is the List of mountain ranges of Colorado#Mountain ranges, highest summit of the southern Front Range of the Rocky Mountains in North America. The Ultra-prominent peak, ultra-prominent fourteener is located in Pike National Forest, ...

but it is not known if Burrill was among them. Most of Burrill's botanical collections were lost when a burro loaded with bundles of dried plants was drowned while fording a swollen mountain stream. After the Colorado expedition, Burrill began teaching algebra as an assistant professor in 1869. He soon switched to teaching botany and by 1870 was promoted to professor. In 1868, he was elected professor of botany and horticulture at

University of Illinois The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC, U of I, Illinois, or University of Illinois) is a public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Champaign–Urbana metropolitan area, Illinois, United ...

and remained there the rest of his career, eventually serving as Vice President in 1882. Burrill served as acting regent of the University of Illinois from 1891 until 1894.

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External links

Thomas J. Burrill Papers, 1901-1905;1909-1910Correspondence, 1892, 1894
1839 births 1916 deaths American botanists American phytopathologists Illinois State University alumni Leaders of the University of Illinois People from Pittsfield, Massachusetts University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign faculty {{US-botanist-stub