CAgM News

Robert Shaw (1919-2009) - Agricultural Climatologist

Dr Robert Shaw of Ames, Iowa (USA) died on 11 February 2009. He was born on 26 June 1919 in Madrid, Iowa. He received a B.S. in botany from Iowa State College in 1941 and a M.S. in 1942. He served in World War II for four years and then completed his Ph.D. in his Ph.D. in agricultural climatology in 1949 from Iowa State.

He started his distinguished teaching career in agricultural climatology by becoming an associate professor at Iowa State in 1949, professor in 1957, and Charles F. Curtis Distinguished Professor in Agriculture in 1980 before retiring in 1986. He played a major part in establishing agricultural meteorology as a recognized field. In 1945, the Iowa State Agronomy Department started a program in agricultural climatology under the direction of Herb S. Thom, the state climatologist and meteorologist-in-charge of the U.S. Weather Bureau office in Des Moines.

Dr Shaw is known for starting a system for collecting data about soil moisture and its relation to the production of agricultural crops. He Shaw focused on water stress on corn, eventually developing the stress index for corn and the statewide soil moisture status report.

He became a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in 1964, the American Society of Agromony (ASA) in 1965, and the Soil Science Society of America (SSSA) in 1976.

Sources: Crop Society of America News (Aug 2009), Iowa State University website, Iowa State University Memorial Resolutions.

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