The uses of death: plant virus research in Britain between 1926 and 1979

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This dissertation proposal concerns the history of plant virus research in mid-20th century Britain. It focuses on the development of state-sponsored plant virology research between the 1920s and the 1970s, from the inception of thePotato Virus Research Station till the incorporation of the Virus Research Unit in the John Innes Institute. Plant virologyresearch deeply changed in the course of the 20th century: from Redcliffe N. Salaman's potato gardens to the modernlaboratories led by Roy Markham. Despite recent growth in interest, the history of agricultural research in Britain remainsunderexplored and within this context plant virology is poorly understood. By contrast, plant breeding has fared muchbetter. Given the recognised importance of plant viruses as a challenge for the plant breeder it is odd that such still littleattention has been devoted to pathologies and their investigation. My main research interest is the role of agriculture andagricultural scientific research in human history. My approach follows current trends in the historiographies of scienceand environment, with scholars focusing their attention on different aspects of the multiform materiality of scientificpractice. I intend to use a wide range of sources, both documentary, material, and oral, with particular emphasis on thosehold by the archives of the John Innes Centre. I am particularly interested in those items that link work practices andmateriality.