Ross Ferguson

{{Short description|New Zealand botanist}} {{Use dmy dates|date=June 2014}} {{Use New Zealand English|date=June 2014}} {{Infobox scientist | name = Ross Ferguson | honorific_suffix = {{post-nominals|country=NZL|ONZM|size=100%}} | image = RSNZ honours Auckland 2024 3683067 (cropped) Ross Ferguson.jpg | image_size = | alt = | caption = Ferguson in 2024 | birth_name = Allan Ross Ferguson | birth_date = {{Birth year and age|1943}} | birth_place = Morrinsville, New Zealand | death_date =  | death_place = | resting_place = | resting_place_coordinates =  | other_names = | citizenship = | nationality = | fields = Botany, biology | workplaces = | patrons = | alma_mater = University of Auckland | thesis_title = Physiological and Biochemical Adaptation in the Nitrogen Nutrition of Spirodela Oligorrhiza | thesis_url = https://researchspace.auckland.ac.nz/handle/2292/2027 | thesis_year = 1969 | doctoral_advisor = | academic_advisors = | doctoral_students = | notable_students = | known_for = Contributions in kiwifruit scientific investigation | author_abbrev_bot = A.R.Ferguson | author_abbrev_zoo = | influences = | influenced = | awards = | signature =  | signature_alt = | website =  | footnotes = | spouse = | children = }} '''Allan Ross Ferguson''' {{post-nominals|country=NZL|ONZM}} (born 1943)<ref name="Janick"/> is a New Zealand botanist who has made significant contributions in the field of kiwifruit scientific investigation. {{botanist|A.R.Ferguson|inline=yes}}

==Biography==

Born in Morrinsville and educated at Gisborne Boys' High School,<ref name="Janick">{{cite book|title=Horticultural Reviews Volume 35 |editor-last1=Janick |editor-first1=Jules |isbn=978-0-470-38642-2 |date=January 2009 |publisher=Wiley-Blackwell |page=xi-xvi |first=Roderick L. |last=Bieleski}}</ref> Ferguson studied botany at the Victoria University of Wellington,<ref name="RNZIH"/> during which he took part in the Fruitgrowers' Federation Studentship in the Fruit Research Division of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research at Mount Albert, Auckland. The laboratory work experience led Ferguson to being employed by the DSIR, which he joined in January 1965.<ref name="Janick"/> During his first three years at the DSIR, Ferguson studied at the University of Auckland, studying the nitrogen metabolism of ''Spirodela oligorrhiza''.<ref name="Janick"/> In 1967, he received a Masters of Science (first-class honours) from the University of Auckland,<ref name="RNZIH">{{cite journal|url=https://www.rnzih.org.nz/RNZIH_Journal/Pages21-22_from_2002_Vol5_No1.pdf |title=1998 RNZIH Awards |pages=21–22 |journal=Royal New Zealand Institute of Horticulture Journal |volume=5 |number=1 |date=2002}}</ref> followed by a Doctor of Philosophy in cell biology in 1969.<ref>{{cite thesis |last=Ferguson |first=A. |year=1969 |type=Doctoral thesis |title=Physiological and Biochemical Adaptation in the Nitrogen Nutrition of Spirodela Oligorrhiza |publisher=ResearchSpace@Auckland, University of Auckland |hdl=2292/2027 |url=https://researchspace.auckland.ac.nz/handle/2292/2027}}</ref>

Working at the DSIR for much of his career,<ref name="RNZIH"/> Ferguson worked on understanding nitrogen nutrition in plants, and by the early 1970s, was asked by the former division director Ted Bollard to take over the kiwifruit planting fertiliser trial operations in the Bay of Plenty. Ferguson became a major researcher for the burgeoning kiwifruit industry in New Zealand.<ref name="Janick"/> In the late 1981, Ferguson took part in one of the first science delegations to the People's Republic of China, where he met Chou-Fen Liang, the leading ''Actinidia'' taxonomist in China.<ref name="Janick"/> Ferguson and Liang worked together in 1983 to write a taxonomic revision of the genus ''Actinidia''.<ref name="Janick"/>

==Honours==

Ferguson was elected a fellow of the Royal New Zealand Institute of Horticulture in 1990, became a fellow of the New Zealand Society for Horticultural Science in 1992,<ref name="Janick"/> and in 1995 was awarded a Leonard Cockayne Lecture Award.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.royalsociety.org.nz/what-we-do/medals-and-awards/leonard-cockayne-lecture-award/recipients-2/|title=Leonard Cockayne Lecture Award Recipients |website=Royal Society of New Zealand Te Apārangi |access-date=18 March 2025}}</ref> Ferguson was elected as a Royal Society of New Zealand fellow in 2000,<ref name="Janick"/> and in the 2007 Queen's Birthday Honours, Ferguson was appointed an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to the kiwifruit industry.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.dpmc.govt.nz/publications/queens-birthday-honours-list-2007 |title=Queen's Birthday honours list 2007 |date=4 June 2007 |publisher=Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet |accessdate=28 September 2018}}</ref> At the 2010 Research Honours, Ferguson won the Jubilee Medal, in recognition for his contributions to scientific knowledge of kiwifruit and contributions to the kiwifruit breeding programme of New Zealand.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.royalsociety.org.nz/what-we-do/medals-and-awards/research-honours/2010-research-honours/|title=2010 Research Honours |website=Royal Society of New Zealand Te Apārangi |access-date=18 March 2025}}</ref>

==Selected publications==

* Ferguson, A.R. (1984) Kiwifruit: A Botanical Review, in Horticultural Reviews, Volume 6 (ed J. Janick), John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, NJ, USA. doi: 10.1002/9781118060797.ch1<ref>{{Cite book|title=Horticultural Reviews|last=Ferguson|first=A.R.|date=1984-01-01|publisher=John Wiley & Sons, Inc.|isbn=9781118060797|editor-last=Janick|editor-first=Jules|pages=1–64|language=en|doi=10.1002/9781118060797.ch1|chapter=Kiwifruit: A Botanical Review}}</ref> * Ferguson, A.R. and Bollard, E.G. (1990) Domestication of kiwifruit. In: IJ Warrington IJ & Weston GC, eds. ''Kiwifruit'': Science and Management. Wellington, New Zealand: New Zealand Society for Horticultural Science, 165–246. * Ferguson, A.R. (2004) 1904– the year that kiwifruit (''Actinidia deliciosa'') came to New Zealand. New Zealand Journal of Crop and Horticultural Science 32: 3–27.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Ferguson|first=A. R.|date=2004-03-01|title=1904—the year that kiwifruit (Actinidia deliciosa) came to New Zealand|journal=New Zealand Journal of Crop and Horticultural Science|volume=32|issue=1|pages=3–27|doi=10.1080/01140671.2004.9514276|s2cid=85152701|issn=0114-0671|doi-access=free|bibcode=2004NZJCH..32....3F }}</ref> * Huang, H.-W. and Ferguson, A.R. (2007). ''Actinidia'' IN China: Natural diversity, phylogeographical evolution, interspecific gene flow and kiwifruit cultivar improvement. Acta Hortic. 753, 31–40 DOI: 10.17660/ActaHortic.2007.753.1 https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.2007.753.1.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.actahort.org/books/753/753_1.htm|title=ACTINIDIA IN CHINA: NATURAL DIVERSITY, PHYLOGEOGRAPHICAL EVOLUTION, INTERSPECIFIC GENE FLOW AND KIWIFRUIT CULTIVAR IMPROVEMENT|website=www.actahort.org|access-date=2017-03-26}}</ref>

== References == {{Reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ferguson, Ross}} Category:1943 births Category:Living people Category:20th-century New Zealand botanists Category:Pomologists Category:21st-century New Zealand botanists Category:People from Morrinsville Category:University of Auckland alumni Category:Officers of the New Zealand Order of Merit Category:People educated at Gisborne Boys' High School Category:Victoria University of Wellington alumni Category:21st-century agronomists