Fred N. Briggs

Fred N. Briggs

From the Plant Breeding Center (Link)

Over a research career devoted to the genetics of resistance and the breeding and improvement of cereal grains, Briggs earned himself a reputation as a pioneer in the application of genetics to crop improvement. This status is due in large part to his development and advancement of a breeding technique that has been called one of the significant plant breeding developments of the 20th Century: backcrossing, a breeding methodology that allows the introgression of desired traits (e.g. disease resistance) without significantly altering high quality.  Using this method, Briggs developed several disease-resistant grain varieties for commercial production in California, including net blotch-resistant barley and rust- and bunt-resistant wheat.

A co-author with P.F. Knowles of the important 1967 text Introduction to Plant Breeding, Briggs did much to educate the next generation of plant breeders even as he worked from his position as Department Chair and Dean to forge key and lasting collaborations between university and external researchers (e.g. the California Cooperative Rice Research Foundation). On May 24, 1972, Briggs Hall on the UC Davis campus was named in honor of his valuable career of service to the university and his contributions to California agriculture.

From California Digital Library (Link)

In his contributions to the University of California, its students and graduates, to agriculture and the sciences of plant breeding, and to the science of administration, Dean Fred N. Briggs left his own true and lasting monuments.

From 1930 until his retirement in 1963, as Professor of Agronomy, as Department Chairman, and as Dean, he influenced the careers of those who studied agriculture at Davis. He guided research that has focused attention of agricultural scientists and administrators around the world on California. He pioneered backcross breeding in plant improvement, building disease resistance into plants without altering high quality, a method that has been called one of the significant plant breeding developments in the present century. In retirement he continued serving California agriculture until his untimely death on September 14, 1965, from injuries in an automobile accident.

He is survived by his wife Dorothy (nee Crane) and two sons, Norman, Professor of Physiology, University of Pittsburgh, and John, partner in Graphic Center, Sacramento, and a granddaughter, Laura, daughter of Norman.

Fred Briggs was born in Center, Missouri, on March 9, 1896. His family moved to Hope, Arkansas, but he returned to enter the University of Missouri, from which he was graduated in 1918. In his choice of a college and career he was influenced by his uncle, Henry Jackson Waters, who was Dean of Agriculture at the University of Missouri, then President of Kansas State University, and later Editor of the Kansas City Star.

After a short period of World War I service as a Second Lieutenant in the Army, Fred Briggs came to California. His first professional interest was plant pathology, and he worked in this field for 11 years, from 1919 to 1930, with the Division of Cereal Crops and Diseases, Bureau of Plant Industry, United States Department of Agriculture, with headquarters at the University of California in Berkeley. During these years, while working as Assistant and later Associate Pathologist with the Bureau, he obtained his Master of Science degree in 1922, and his doctorate in 1925, from the University of California. In 1930, he joined the faculty at Davis as Assistant Professor of Agronomy.

Assigned to the problems of smut and bunt in cereals, he concerned himself first with chemical control. But his interest soon turned to the genetics of resistance to these and other diseases. His studies, emphasizing the importance of utilizing a single race of the pathogen, set the pattern for major contributions in this field by himself and others. Combining the information derived from this basic research with the philosophy of backcrossing, Briggs successfully transferred resistance to the major diseases into several varieties of wheat and barley. His success with the backcross method of plant improvement encouraged its adoption by other researchers throughout the world.

In 1936 Fred Briggs was promoted to Associate Professor in the College of Agriculture and Associate Agronomist in the Agricultural Experiment Station. In 1942 he became Professor and Agronomist. He was named Acting Chairman of the Department of Agronomy in 1947 and Chairman in 1948. In 1952 he became Dean of the College of Agriculture at Davis, Assistant Director of the Agricultural Experiment Station, and Assistant Dean of the Graduate Division. His Graduate Division responsibility passed to other hands in 1958, but he remained Dean and Associate Director of the Experiment Station until he retired in 1963.

Honors came to Dean Briggs early in his career and with regularity thereafter. In 1942, the first Faculty Research Lecturer for the David Campus was named. Colleagues of Dean Briggs, in recognition of his distinguished contributions in research, designated him to be the first honored. In 1952, he was elected a Fellow in the American Society of Agronomy. At the close of his active career, in 1963, he was called back to the University of Missouri at its 121st commencement to receive an honorary doctorate, “in recognition of distinguished service to agriculture through teaching and research.”

A year later, recognition of his contributions as a teacher, researcher, and administrator brought him a University of California LL.D. during June commencement ceremonies at Davis. The citation included the following: “Known for his research in the genetics of disease resistance, and particularly for his development of the backcross method of plant breeding....Fellow of the American Society of Agronomy and tireless worker for the welfare of his College and his University. We honor today his many achievements during a full and productive career.”

Dean Briggs was a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He was an honorary member of Alpha Zeta, and he received the honorary degree of State Farmer from the Future Farmers of America. He was recognized nationally in 1958 as Man of the Week in Agriculture on the “Farmscene” radio program of Columbia Broadcasting System. On his retirement in 1963, more than 500 of his friends honored him with a banquet. At the same time there was established in his honor the Fred N. Briggs Library Endowment Fund for Agricultural History. After his retirement, he continued to pursue his interest in agricultural history.

The concern of Dean Briggs for students of agriculture continued through his career in the University of California. Until he was appointed Dean, he taught an upper-division course on the application of genetics to problems of plant improvement. He guided the improvement of curricula, constantly emphasized the teaching function of the College, and strengthened departments in the College of Agriculture. He fostered the development of better facilities to improve both agricultural research and teaching at the graduate level. He deserves a great deal of credit for bringing about cordial relationships between the University, the California State Colleges and junior colleges teaching agriculture, the result of his skillful and understanding participation in meetings with representatives of these institutions.

Dean Briggs was recalled to active service after his retirement to serve as the University's representative and the co-director of a cotton breeding program in the San Joaquin Valley to meet a potential disaster of a serious plant disease. His broad experience as a plant breeder was utilized to strengthen the program for improvement of disease tolerance. He also aided the coordinating committee in planning the overall research program.

Fred Briggs was working in the service of the University and of California agriculture, en route to a meeting with representatives of the cotton industry, when he suffered the injuries that caused his death.