Keen , Sir , Bernard Augustus , 1890-1981 , Knight , agricultural scientist

Born near Southend, Essex, 1890; educated at Southend High School, 1902-1908; read physics and mathematics at University College London, 1908-1911; remained at University College London for a year's postgraduate research, 1911-1912; joined the staff of the Rothamsted Experimental Station, Hertfordshire, to study the possibilities of applying physics to agriculture, with particular reference to soil, 1913; served in World War One in the Suffolk Regiment, Gallipoli and Palestine, 1914-1917; Research Department, Woolwich Arsenal, 1918; returned to Rothamsted to set up a soil physics laboratory, 1919; re-entered University College London, 1920-1921; became Assistant Director of Soil Physics Department at Rothamsted, 1924; later Head of Soil Physics Department; Editor of the Journal of Agricultural Science, 1924-1965; broadcast talks to schools on science of agriculture and gardening, 1928-1941; remained at Rothamsted until 1947; frequent secondments overseas included the Directorship of the Imperial Institute of Agricultural Research, Pusa, Bihar, India, 1929-1931; elected Fellow of the Royal Society, 1935; President of the Royal Meteorological Society, 1938-1939; Vice-President, Institute of Physics, 1941-1943; Cantor Lecturer, Royal Society of Arts, 1942; Scientific Adviser, Middle East Supply Centre, Cairo, 1943-1945; adviser on rural development, Palestine, 1946; Chairman of UK Government Mission to West Africa on production of vegetable oils and oil seeds, 1946; adviser to East African governments on agricultural policy and research needs, 1947; Director of the East African Agriculture and Forestry Research Organisation, 1947-1954; member of the Scientific Council for Africa, 1950-1954; Chairman of Governors, East African Tea Research Institute, 1951-1954; knighted, 1952; Scientific Adviser, Baird and Tatlock (London) Ltd, 1955-1963; member of Scientific Panel, Colonial Development Corporation, 1955-1963; member of Forest Products Research Board, Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, 1957-1959; travelled extensively in the USA, South Africa, India, East and West Africa, the Middle East, Bulgaria and Australia, to examine and report on the scientific, technical, and administrative problems in agriculture; Doctor of Science; Fellow of University College London; died, 1981. See also Sir Charles Pereira's memoir in Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society, vol xxviii (1982). Publications: The Physical Properties of the Soil (Longmans & Co, London, 1931); The Agricultural Development of the Middle East ... A report ... May, 1945 (HM Stationery Office, London, 1946); various papers in scientific and agricultural journals.