Alex McBratney Wins Royal Society Fellowship for 1981-Started Soil Science Career
Updated
Updated · BBC.com · Jun 28
Alex McBratney Wins Royal Society Fellowship for 1981-Started Soil Science Career
3 articles · Updated · BBC.com · Jun 28
Summary
University of Sydney scientist Alex McBratney has been elected a fellow of the Royal Society for his soil research, a recognition he said left him "genuinely taken aback."
Whithorn-born McBratney traced that work to his upbringing on a Dumfries and Galloway farm, where he learned early that land varied field by field before discovering soil science at 16.
In 1981, shrinking agricultural research opportunities in Britain pushed him to move to Australia after work at Aberdeen and Rothamsted, where he built the career for which he was honored.
McBratney argued soil is overlooked despite underpinning food production, carbon storage and water filtration, saying a handful contains more living organisms than there are people on Earth.
The fellowship places someone from a small Scottish farming community among scientists linked to the Royal Society including Isaac Newton, Charles Darwin, Albert Einstein and Stephen Hawking.