McGill Library
McLennan Library Building3459 rue McTavish
Montreal, Quebec
H3A 0C9
Identity area
Type of entity
Person
Authorized form of name
Beal, W. J. (William James), 1833-1924
Parallel form(s) of name
Standardized form(s) of name according to other rules
Other form(s) of name
Identifiers for corporate bodies
Description area
Dates of existence
1833-1924
History
William James Beal was born on March 11, 1833, in Adrian, Lenawee County, Michigan.
He was an American botanist and a pioneer in the development of hybrid corn. He studied at the University of Michigan where he earned his B.A. degree (1859) and his M.A. degree (1865). He received his B.Sc. degree from Harvard University in 1865 and his M.Sc. from the University of Chicago in 1875. Between 1858 and 1861 he was a teacher of Natural Sciences at Friends Academy at Union Springs, New York. In 1871, he became the Head of the Botany Department at the Michigan Agricultural College (now University of Michigan) and stayed in this position for forty years. He led the research using cross-fertilization to increase the yield from 8 rowed Indian corn to 24 rowed hybrid corn. He also founded the W. J. Beal Botanical Garden in 1877, making it the oldest continuously operated botanical garden in the United States.
He died on May 12, 1924, in East Lansing, Ingham County, Michigan.
Places
Legal status
Functions, occupations and activities
Mandates/sources of authority
Internal structures/genealogy
General context
Relationships area
Access points area
Subject access points
Place access points
Occupations
Control area
Authority record identifier
no2005089998