# Percy Wragg Brian > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Percy_Wragg_Brian > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Percy_Wragg_Brian.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Percy_Wragg_Brian > Source revision: 1341045817 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) {{Short description|British botanist (1910–1979)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} {{Infobox scientist | name = Percy Wragg Brian | honorific_suffix = [FRS](/source/Fellow_of_the_Royal_Society) [FRSE](/source/FRSE) CBE | birth_date = 5 September 1910 | birth_place = Hall Green, [Yardley](/source/Yardley%2C_Birmingham) | death_date = 17 August 1979 | field = [Botany](/source/Botany) }} '''Percy Wragg Brian''' [FRS](/source/Fellow_of_the_Royal_Society){{Cite journal | last1 = Garrett | first1 = Stephen Denis| doi = 10.1098/rsbm.1981.0005 | doi-access = free| title = Percy Wragg Brian. 5 September 1910-17 August 1979 | journal = [Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society](/source/Biographical_Memoirs_of_Fellows_of_the_Royal_Society) | volume = 27 | pages = 102–126 | year = 1981 | jstor = 769867| s2cid = 72268124}} [FRSE](/source/FRSE) CBE (5 September 1910 – 17 August 1979) was a [British](/source/uK) botanist and mycologist. He was critical to the development of plant pathology and natural antibiotics such as [Gibberellin](/source/Gibberellin) and [Griseofulvin](/source/Griseofulvin).{{cite journal|title=Percy Wragg Brian, 5 September 1910 - 17 August 1979 | Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society|pages=102–130|journal=Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society|volume=27|doi=10.1098/rsbm.1981.0005|doi-access=free|date=November 1981|last1=Garrett|first1=Stephen Denis|s2cid=72268124}} ==Life== He was born in Hall Green, [Yardley](/source/Yardley%2C_Birmingham) to Percy Brian (1881–1945), a schoolteacher from [Macclesfield](/source/Macclesfield) and his wife Adelaide Wragg. His early education was at [King Edward's School, Birmingham](/source/King_Edward's_School%2C_Birmingham).{{Cite web |url=http://www.royalsoced.org.uk/cms/files/fellows/biographical_index/fells_indexp1.pdf |title=Archived copy |access-date=2015-05-13 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150919152306/https://www.royalsoced.org.uk/cms/files/fellows/biographical_index/fells_indexp1.pdf |archive-date=2015-09-19 |url-status=dead }} He graduated from [King's College, Cambridge](/source/King's_College%2C_Cambridge) in 1931. He was awarded a [PhD](/source/PhD) in 1936 and [DSc](/source/Doctor_of_Science) in 1951, and he was elected a Fellow of [Queens' College, Cambridge](/source/Queens'_College%2C_Cambridge) in 1968.{{cite web|url=http://www.universitystory.gla.ac.uk/biography/?id=WH2156&type=P|website=universitystory.gla.ac.uk|title=University of Glasgow :: Story :: Biography of Percy Brian|access-date=2018-04-10}} His first employment was as Assistant Mycologist at [Long Ashton Research Station](/source/Long_Ashton_Research_Station) where he worked from 1934 to 1936. In 1936 he began at [ICI](/source/Imperial_Chemical_Industries)'s facility at [Jealott's Hill](/source/Jealott's_Hill) before moving in the late 1930s to their Butterwick Research Laboratories (later renamed Akers) as Mycologist and in 1946 was promoted to Head of Microbiology. He served in this role for ICI until 1961 and spent his final two years with them as Associate Research Manager. During this period, in 1962, he was on a team which discovered new antibiotics produced by fungi. He was appointed to the [Regius Chair of Botany](/source/Regius_Professor_of_Botany_(Glasgow)) at [University of Glasgow](/source/University_of_Glasgow) in 1962, leaving six years later to become Head of the Cambridge Botany School. He was elected a [Fellow of the Royal Society](/source/Fellow_of_the_Royal_Society) in 1958. In 1964 he was made a Fellow of the [Royal Society of Edinburgh](/source/Royal_Society_of_Edinburgh).{{cite news |title=Fellows of the Royal Society {{!}} Queens' College |url=https://www.queens.cam.ac.uk/visiting-the-college/history/college-facts/fellows-of-the-royal-society |work=www.queens.cam.ac.uk}} He was President of the [British Mycological Society](/source/British_Mycological_Society) in 1959 and 1965; President of the [Association of Applied Biologists](/source/Association_of_Applied_Biologists) in 1961; and President of the [Society of General Microbiology](/source/Society_of_General_Microbiology) from 1965 to 1968. ==Family== He married twice, firstly to Iris Hunt in 1934 (dissolved) secondly to Meg Gilling in 1948. His younger brother, Michael Vaughan Brian (1919–1990), was an entomologist, specialising in ants.{{cite journal|title=Michael Vaughan Brian M.A. Sc.D. OBE (1919–1990)|journal=Insectes Sociaux|volume=38|issue=3|pages=331–332|doi=10.1007/BF01314919|year = 1991|last1 = Elmes|first1 = G. W.|last2=Stradling|first2=D. J.|s2cid=5960399|doi-access=free}} ==References== {{reflist}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Brian, Percy Wragg}} Category:1910 births Category:1979 deaths Category:Scientists from Birmingham, West Midlands Category:Alumni of King's College, Cambridge Category:Fellows of Queens' College, Cambridge Category:20th-century British botanists Category:Professors of Botany (Cambridge) Category:Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Category:British fellows of the Royal Society {{UK-botanist-stub}} --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Percy Wragg Brian](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Percy_Wragg_Brian) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Percy_Wragg_Brian?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.