Today in Wheeling History: February 21--Albert Joyce Riker, Wheeling-born plant pathologist and National Academy of Sciences member, died in Tucson, Arizona (1982).
Albert Joyce Riker was born in Wheeling, West Virginia on April 3, 1894, to Albert Birdsall Riker, a Methodist minister who later became president of Mount Union College in Alliance, Ohio, and Mary Edith (Davis) Riker. He later attended public school in Alliance, Ohio, and completed his high school education in Moundsville, West Virginia. After high school, Riker worked various jobs, including positions at the Royal Three Barrel Gun Company, as an automobile repairman and salesman, and helping build greenhouses. He attended Oberlin College, earning his A.B. degree in botany in 1917. During World War I, he served as a bacteriologist in an Army hospital in France (1918-1919). Following his military service, he earned his M.A. in botany and bacteriology from the University of Cincinnati in 1920 and his Ph.D. in plant pathology from the University of Wisconsin in 1922. He spent most of his career at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, becoming a leading authority in plant pathology, particularly in forest diseases and crown gall research. Riker was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 1951 and received numerous prestigious awards. He married three times: Regina Stockhausen (1922), Helen Burgoyne (1953), and Adelaide Evenson. He died on February 21, 1982, in Tucson, Arizona.
To learn more: Wikipedia (https://tinyurl.com/2erjhrbx), apsnet.org (https://tinyurl.com/497dzpa5), National Academies Press (https://tinyurl.com/2hjtu9xs), University of Wisconsin-Madison (https://tinyurl.com/mr3sk52u)
Photo caption and credit: Albert Joyce Riker (National Academies Press)
Albert Joyce Riker was born in Wheeling, West Virginia on April 3, 1894, to Albert Birdsall Riker, a Methodist minister who later became president of Mount Union College in Alliance, Ohio, and Mary Edith (Davis) Riker. He later attended public school in Alliance, Ohio, and completed his high school education in Moundsville, West Virginia. After high school, Riker worked various jobs, including positions at the Royal Three Barrel Gun Company, as an automobile repairman and salesman, and helping build greenhouses. He attended Oberlin College, earning his A.B. degree in botany in 1917. During World War I, he served as a bacteriologist in an Army hospital in France (1918-1919). Following his military service, he earned his M.A. in botany and bacteriology from the University of Cincinnati in 1920 and his Ph.D. in plant pathology from the University of Wisconsin in 1922. He spent most of his career at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, becoming a leading authority in plant pathology, particularly in forest diseases and crown gall research. Riker was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 1951 and received numerous prestigious awards. He married three times: Regina Stockhausen (1922), Helen Burgoyne (1953), and Adelaide Evenson. He died on February 21, 1982, in Tucson, Arizona.
To learn more: Wikipedia (https://tinyurl.com/2erjhrbx), apsnet.org (https://tinyurl.com/497dzpa5), National Academies Press (https://tinyurl.com/2hjtu9xs), University of Wisconsin-Madison (https://tinyurl.com/mr3sk52u)
Photo caption and credit: Albert Joyce Riker (National Academies Press)
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