# Gabrielle Howard
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{{Short description|British botanist (1876–1930)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Infobox scientist
| birth_name = Gabrielle Louise Caroline Matthaei
| image = Photo of Gabrielle Howard.jpg
| image_size =
| caption =
| birth_date = {{birth date|1876|10|3|df=y}}
| birth_place = [Kensington, London](/source/Kensington%2C_London), England
| death_date = {{death date and age|1930|8|18|1876|10|3|df=y}}
| death_place = [Genoa](/source/Genoa)
| education =
| fields = [Plant physiology](/source/Plant_physiology)
| alma_mater = [University of Cambridge](/source/University_of_Cambridge)
| occupation =
| spouse = [Albert Howard](/source/Albert_Howard)
| relatives = [Louise Howard](/source/Louise_Howard) (sister)
}}
'''Gabrielle Louise Caroline Howard''' (née '''Matthaei'''; 3 October 1876 – 18 August 1930), usually cited as '''G. L. C. Matthaei''', was an English [plant physiologist](/source/plant_physiology) and [economic botanist](/source/economic_botany) who advocated [organic farming](/source/organic_farming).
== Education and photosynthesis experiments ==
Matthaei was born in [Kensington](/source/Kensington) in a family of German, Swiss and French ancestry. She was the daughter of the musician Louise Henriette Elizabeth Sueur and the commission merchant Carl Hermann Ernst Matthaei, she had a brother and three younger sisters, including [Louise Howard](/source/Louise_Howard).[{{cite ODNB|title=Howard, Louise Ernestine|last=Oldfield|first=Sybil|year=2004|doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/37576|url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/37576|access-date=1 January 2013}}] Matthaei attended [North London Collegiate School for Girls](/source/North_London_Collegiate_School_for_Girls) and [Newnham College, Cambridge](/source/Newnham_College%2C_Cambridge), and later worked as assistant to [Frederick Blackman](/source/Frederick_Blackman), producing significant work on [cellular respiration](/source/cellular_respiration). Between 1902 and 1905, Blackman and Matthaei set out to discover the role of temperature in [photosynthesis](/source/photosynthesis) and performed the first such experiments, finding that [carbon fixation](/source/carbon_fixation) is based on biochemical reactions which depend on temperature.[{{citation|title=Air: Chemistry of the Climate System|last=Möller|first=Detlev|publisher=Walter de Gruyter|year=2010|isbn=978-3110197914}}] Although the experiment is inaccurately known as the Blackman Reaction, a significant part of the work was carried out by Matthaei and the 1904 paper communicated to the [Royal Society](/source/Royal_Society) by [Francis Darwin](/source/Francis_Darwin) bears only her name.[{{citation|title=The Aliveness Of Plants: The Darwins at the Dawn of Plant Science|last=Ayres|first=Peter G.|publisher=Pickering & Chatto|year=2008|isbn=978-1851969708}}]
== Agricultural research ==
In 1905, she married [Albert Howard](/source/Albert_Howard), imperial economic botanist to the government of India. The couple invariably did their research together and soon became known as the "[Sidney](/source/Sidney_Webb%2C_1st_Baron_Passfield) and [Beatrice Webb](/source/Beatrice_Webb) of India". In 1913, Gabrielle Howard became the second imperial economic botanist to the government of India. Between 1905 and 1924, the Howards carried out research on crops such as [cotton](/source/cotton) and [wheat](/source/wheat) at their experiment station at [Pusa](/source/Samastipur_district), and ran a fruit experiment station at [Quetta](/source/Quetta) from 1912 until 1919. They argued that plants should be studied in the context of their habitat and that food grown in humus-rich soil would be beneficial to health. Beginning in 1924, they oversaw the planning and construction of the [Institute of Plant Industry](/source/Institute_of_Plant_Industry%2C_Indore) at [Indore](/source/Indore). She suddenly died in [Genoa](/source/Genoa) shortly before their planned retirement and return to England. The next year, her widower married her sister Louise. Neither marriage produced children.[{{citation|title=Howard, Sir Albert|last=Conford|first=Philip|work=[Oxford Dictionary of National Biography](/source/Oxford_Dictionary_of_National_Biography)|publisher=[Oxford University Press](/source/Oxford_University_Press)|url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/templates/article.jsp?articleid=56157&back=|access-date=2 January 2013}}]
== Publications ==
*{{citation |year=1907 |author=Matthaei, G. L. C|title=Experimental researches on vegetable assimilation and respiration|journal=Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London|volume=2 |pages=47|doi=10.1098/rstb.1905.0005 |doi-access=free}}
*{{citation |year=1907 |author1=Howard, Albert |author2=Howard, Gabrielle L. C. |title=Note on Immune Wheats |journal=The Journal of Agricultural Science |volume=2 |pages=278–280 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |doi=10.1017/S0021859600000575 |issue=3|s2cid=84326599 |url=https://zenodo.org/record/1711177 |doi-access=free }}
*{{citation |year=1910 |author1=Howard, Albert |author2=Howard, Gabrielle L. C. |author3=Khan, Abdur Rahman |title=The economic significance of natural cross-fertilization in India |series=India Dept. of Agriculture. Memoirs. Botanical series |volume=III |publisher=(No.6) Calcutta: Thacker, Spink & Co.; London: W. Thacker & Co.}} (Published for the Imperial Department of Agriculture in India; Calcutta). [https://openlibrary.org/works/OL1471438W/The_economic_significance_of_natural_cross-fertilization_in_India Listing at Open Library]
*{{citation |year=1929 |author1=Howard, Albert |author2=Howard, Gabrielle L. C. |title=The Development of Indian Agriculture |series=India of Today |volume=VIII|place=London |publisher=[Humphrey Milford](/source/Humphrey_S._Milford) and Oxford University Press |edition=2nd |url=https://archive.org/stream/developmentofind031932mbp#page/n6/mode/1up |access-date=9 August 2010}}
== References ==
{{reflist}}
== External links ==
*[https://cookingupastory.com/organic-agriculture-its-origins-and-evolution-over-time Organic Agriculture: Its Origins, and Evolution Over Time]
*"Women Inspired by Marshall Ward" [https://www.newbotaniststwo.uk]
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Howard, Gabrielle}}
Category:1876 births
Category:1930 deaths
Category:Alumni of Newnham College, Cambridge
Category:Botanists active in India
Category:British women scientists
Category:Economic botanists
Category:English botanists
Category:English people of German descent
Category:Fellows of Newnham College, Cambridge
Category:Organic farmers
Category:People from Kensington
Category:British plant physiologists
Category:British women botanists
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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Gabrielle Howard](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gabrielle_Howard) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gabrielle_Howard?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.