In Memoriam
Francis Everett Broadbent
Professor of Soil Microbiology, Emeritus
UC Davis
1922-2014
Francis Everett Broadbent, Professor Emeritus in the Department of Land, Air and Water Resources, UC Davis, died on Sept. 29, 2014, at the age of 92. He retired from UC Davis in December 1987. He was born on March 29, 1922, in Snowflake, Ariz., where he grew up and attended public schools. He obtained further education at Gila Junior College, Brigham Young University, the University of Chicago and Iowa State University. He served in the Army Air Corps in World War II for 39 months, with duty as a staff weather officer in the United States, England, France and Germany. He was awarded the Bronze Star for his service in Europe and was discharged in 1946 with the rank of captain. After obtaining his doctorate in soil bacteriology at Iowa State, he was appointed as a scientist in the Citrus Experiment Station at UC Riverside for two years, followed by five years at Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y. as an Associate Professor of Soil Microbiology. In 1955, he came to UC Davis as an Associate Professor of Soil Microbiology, where he served for 32 years on the faculty of the Department of Soils and Plant Nutrition and later the Department of Land, Air and Water Resources.
Professor Broadbent taught an undergraduate course in Geomicrobiology and a graduate course in Soil Microbiology which were integral components of several undergraduate majors and the graduate program in Soil Science. He mentored dozens of graduate students during his career. He was an invited speaker to many national and international audiences. He was active on many committees of the university, scientific societies, and state, national and international agencies.
The influence of the Green Revolution, or Third Agricultural Revolution, and their tenants clearly influenced Dr. Broadbent’s research program, especially his research on nitrogen use through fertilizer and plant breeding design to advantage nitrogen and maximize food availability. His studies often were guided by a systems approach that investigated the interface between soils, plants, water and atmosphere. His research program made major contributions to knowledge of the characteristics, behavior, and transformations of soil organic matter, and pioneered the use of the stable nitrogen isotope, 15N, where he thoroughly characterized many of the nitrogen transformations which occur in soils and used the tracer to investigate organic and fertilizer nitrogen in soil-plant systems. He was also instrumental in developing the concept and application of using 15N-depleted fertilizer for determining uptake of fertilizer N by crops in the field and tracing the movement of fertilizer nitrogen below the crop root zone. In the latter part of his career, he extended his research on the nitrogen cycle to the uptake and utilization by plants under the environmental constraints caused by water and salinity stress by elucidating how these stressors affected soil microbial processes. Also, in cooperation with the International Rice Research Institute, he studied the nitrogen uptake of rice with the goal of identifying genetic lines to improve nitrogen utilization efficiency. Dr. Broadbent not only made many new discoveries about the fundamentals of soil science and soil microbiology, but also actively applied his research. Benefits for agriculture included management practices for improving nitrogen-use efficiency of crops including rice, pesticide degradation in soils, and how to decrease the emissions of fertilizer nitrogen into groundwater and the atmosphere. His research activities were reported in more than 140 technical journal articles and 22 chapters in books.
Dr. Broadbent was known in the department for his kindness and quiet sense of humor. He was generous in sharing lab equipment and supplies. His availability to others with his extensive breadth and depth of knowledge helped many students and new investigators get started and solve problems in their research.
Professor Broadbent was a Fellow of the American Society of Agronomy and of the Soil Science Society of America and was a recipient of the Gourley Award of the American Society of Horticultural Science, and the Award of Honor of the California Chapter of the American Society of Agronomy. Dr. Broadbent was a Senior Fulbright Scholar at the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, New Zealand, and visiting scientist at the International Rice Research Institute in the Philippines and the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna, Austria.
Professor Broadbent’s abilities as a teacher and a scientist and his creativity have had a significant, world-wide impact on the discipline of soil science and on soil microbiology in particular. Not only has his research added much new knowledge about soil biological processes, but also provided the basis for improved management of soil and water resources for agricultural production and environmental protection.
Dennis Rolston
Roy Peterson
Kate Scow
Professor Broadbent taught an undergraduate course in Geomicrobiology and a graduate course in Soil Microbiology which were integral components of several undergraduate majors and the graduate program in Soil Science. He mentored dozens of graduate students during his career. He was an invited speaker to many national and international audiences. He was active on many committees of the university, scientific societies, and state, national and international agencies.
The influence of the Green Revolution, or Third Agricultural Revolution, and their tenants clearly influenced Dr. Broadbent’s research program, especially his research on nitrogen use through fertilizer and plant breeding design to advantage nitrogen and maximize food availability. His studies often were guided by a systems approach that investigated the interface between soils, plants, water and atmosphere. His research program made major contributions to knowledge of the characteristics, behavior, and transformations of soil organic matter, and pioneered the use of the stable nitrogen isotope, 15N, where he thoroughly characterized many of the nitrogen transformations which occur in soils and used the tracer to investigate organic and fertilizer nitrogen in soil-plant systems. He was also instrumental in developing the concept and application of using 15N-depleted fertilizer for determining uptake of fertilizer N by crops in the field and tracing the movement of fertilizer nitrogen below the crop root zone. In the latter part of his career, he extended his research on the nitrogen cycle to the uptake and utilization by plants under the environmental constraints caused by water and salinity stress by elucidating how these stressors affected soil microbial processes. Also, in cooperation with the International Rice Research Institute, he studied the nitrogen uptake of rice with the goal of identifying genetic lines to improve nitrogen utilization efficiency. Dr. Broadbent not only made many new discoveries about the fundamentals of soil science and soil microbiology, but also actively applied his research. Benefits for agriculture included management practices for improving nitrogen-use efficiency of crops including rice, pesticide degradation in soils, and how to decrease the emissions of fertilizer nitrogen into groundwater and the atmosphere. His research activities were reported in more than 140 technical journal articles and 22 chapters in books.
Dr. Broadbent was known in the department for his kindness and quiet sense of humor. He was generous in sharing lab equipment and supplies. His availability to others with his extensive breadth and depth of knowledge helped many students and new investigators get started and solve problems in their research.
Professor Broadbent was a Fellow of the American Society of Agronomy and of the Soil Science Society of America and was a recipient of the Gourley Award of the American Society of Horticultural Science, and the Award of Honor of the California Chapter of the American Society of Agronomy. Dr. Broadbent was a Senior Fulbright Scholar at the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, New Zealand, and visiting scientist at the International Rice Research Institute in the Philippines and the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna, Austria.
Professor Broadbent’s abilities as a teacher and a scientist and his creativity have had a significant, world-wide impact on the discipline of soil science and on soil microbiology in particular. Not only has his research added much new knowledge about soil biological processes, but also provided the basis for improved management of soil and water resources for agricultural production and environmental protection.
Dennis Rolston
Roy Peterson
Kate Scow
