Strathmore's Roundtable Biography for
J. Artie Browning, Ph.D.
 | J. Artie Browning, Ph.D. |
| Biography | Born in the Village of Kosse in Limestone County, Texas in 1923, Dr. Browning grew up on a dairy farm in the East Texas Oil Field. He graduated from Gladewater High School in 1941 and entered Texas Agricultural & Mechanical College as a Pre-Med student. After Japan bombed Pearl Harbor, the college went on a 12 month schedule and Dr. Browning volunteered to the Navy in July of 1943 after completing 2 years of college. He graduated from the Navy Midshipmen School at Cornell in 1944, the Navy Communications School at Harvard in 1945 and was ordered to the USS Saratoga which was then training air groups for the invasion of Japan. He was aboard a personnel carrier when Hiroshima was bombed and aboard the Sara when Nagasaki was bombed. Within 2 weeks the Sara was ordered to Pearl Harbor for refitting as the 1st Ship of the Magic Carpet Fleet to rush the victorious veterans home. He enjoyed many round trips between Pearl Harbor and Alameda, California which enabled him to take leave to marry Arra White on March 2, 1946. Although he was invited to go with Sara to Bikini Beach as a Communications Officer, he declined because he did not want to leave his new bride and he wanted to re-enter college. Arra was an integral component of Dr. Browning's life from marriage through 62 happy years of marriage. Dr. Browning entered the Pre-Med program at Baylor University. Arra earned her B.S. degree in 1945 and taught Home Economics and General Science in Crawford, Texas while Dr. Browning commuted to Waco where he received his B.S. in Biology in 1947. At the prompting of his wife who had taken a course in field botany, Dr. Browning took his first course in Botany, loved it and decided to do his graduate work in Botany. He stayed in Baylor while Prof. Smith tutored him for courses he'd need in graduate-level Botany. Dr. Browning then chose Cornell and majored in taxonomy (the science of classification of organisms.) He learned that taxonomy was not for him and changed his major to Plant Pathology which mainly changes hosts from humans to plants which he's never regretted. In 1953, Dr. Browning received his Ph.D. and accepted a position at Iowa State University as Oat Pathologist. Dr. Browning is proudest of his work with the Israelis. Following nature, he and his team emulated Israel's indigenous ecosystem and it worked. They achieved an agronomic series of cultivators in which both nature and farmers were pleased. and which had the insurance of nature that there would be no epidemics. His term "the protection of indigenousness" is real; scientists and farmers can depend upon it. He is also proud that his work led to the protection of coffee from the dreaded coffee rust and to the other opportunities interacting with scientists in the other Plant Protection Disciplines |
| Industry | Education/Research |
| Title | Professor Emeritus of Plant Pathology |
| Expertise | Phytopathology, epidemiology, genetics |
| Current Organization | Texas A&M University (TAMU) |
| Type of Organization | Land-grant university |
| Major Product | Higher education; research information distributed by USDA's Cooperative Extension Service |
| Area of Distribution | International |
| University/Degree | B.S., Biology, Baylor University, Texas, 1947; Ph.D., Plant Pathology, Cornell University, New York, 1953 |
| Born | October 3, 1923, Kosse, Texas |
| Honors & Awards | Beta Beta Beta, Gamma Sigma Delta, Phi Kappa Phi; Member of the Select Committee to review the Huffaker Integrated Pest Management Project for the President's Council of Environmental Quality; testified before the U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture proposing a holistic National Plant Health System; UN-FAO Panel of Experts on Integrated Pest Control 1978-82; Fulbright Scholar in Israel 1990-91 |
| Published Works | 22 book chapters, co-edited 1 book, 40 papers in research journals, 60 less technical publications, co-developer of 15 improved oat cultivars and a unique disease-management strategy; 1 patent |
| Affiliations | Fellow, A.A.A.S.; Board Member, A.I.B.S.; Fellow, Board Member, President 1982, A.P.S.; A.S.A.; C.S.S.A.; Board Member, F.E.A.E. |
| Hobbies & Sports | Master Gardeners, kayaking, photography, woodworking |
| Career Accomplishments | Emulated Israel's genetically diverse ecosystem in agroecosystems, controlling highly epidemic rust fungi on oats in Iowa and Texas. Others confirmed the strategy on rusts of wheat, pearl millet and coffee; rice blast in China and The Philippines, and powdery mildews of barley and wheat in Europe. Advocated the general plant practitioner Doctor of Plant Medicine program, which was established in Florida. As department head, reorganized TAMU's mega-department of plant sciences in the Department of Plant Pathology and Microbiology |
| Work History | Professor of Plant Pathology at Iowa State University, 28 years; TAMU, 10 years; and the Rockefeller Foundation's Agricultural Program in Colombia, 1½ years |
| Children | Glenn, Gayle, John; 3 grandchildren |
| Spouse | Arra White |
| Married | March 2, 1946 |
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