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{{short description|English botanist}}
'''Redcliffe Nathan Salaman''' (12 September 1874 – 12 June 1955) was a British ].<ref name=smith>{{Cite journal | last1 = Smith | first1 = K. M. | doi = 10.1098/rsbm.1955.0017 | title = Redcliffe Nathan Salaman. 1874-1955 | journal = Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society | volume = 1 | pages = 238–245| year = 1955 | pmid = | pmc = }}</ref>
{{EngvarB|date=August 2017}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2017}}
{{Infobox scientist
| honorific_prefix =
| name = Redcliffe Salaman
| honorific_suffix =
| native_name =
| native_name_lang = he
| image =
| image_size =
| image_upright =
| alt =
| caption =
| birth_name = Redcliffe Nathan Salaman
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1874|9|12|df=y}}
| birth_place = ], ], ], United Kingdom
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1955|6|12|1874|9|12|df=y}}
| death_place = United Kingdom
| death_cause =
| resting_place =
| resting_place_coordinates =
| education = ]
| alma_mater = ]
| doctoral_students = ]<ref>{{Cite journal | doi = 10.1007/s10722-005-8253-3|author=Richard N. Lester|author-link=Richard Neville Lester|title=Book Review - Hunting the Wild Potato in the South American Andes: Memories of the British Empire Potato Collecting Expedition to South America 1938–1939|journal=Genetic Resources and Crop Evolution|year=2005|volume=52|pages=483–488}}</ref>
| spouse = {{plainlist|
* {{marriage|]|1901|1925|reason=died}}
* {{marriage|Gertrude Lowy|1926}}
}}
| children = 6 ({{abbr|incl.|including}} ] and ])
}}


'''Redcliffe Nathan Salaman''' (12 September 1874 – 12 June 1955) was a British physician, biologist who pioneered the breeding of ]-free potatoes, Jewish nationalist, race scientist and key figure in the Anglo-Jewish community in the 20th century.<ref name=Endelman/><ref name=smith>{{Cite journal | last1 = Smith | first1 = K. M. | doi = 10.1098/rsbm.1955.0017 | title = Redcliffe Nathan Salaman. 1874-1955 | journal = Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society | volume = 1 | pages = 238–245| year = 1955 | s2cid = 71902371 | doi-access = }}</ref> His groundbreaking 1949 book ''The History and Social Influence of the Potato'' established the history of nutrients as a new literary genre.<ref name="Karl Popper and the Two New Secrets of Life">{{cite book |last=Niemann|first=Hans-Joachim|author-link=Hans-Joachim Niemann|title=Karl Popper and the Two New Secrets of Life|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RTPpiAMuZRcC&pg=PA39|year=2014|publisher=]|page=39|isbn=978-3161532078}}</ref>
==Personal life==
Salaman was born in ] on 12 September 1874 and was the ninth of fifteen children born to his parents Sarah Soloman and Myer Salaman who was a "wealthy ostrich feather merchant".<ref name=Palladino>{{cite web|url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/printable/35911|title=Salaman, Redcliffe Nathan (1874–1955), geneticist and Jewish activist|author=Paolo Palladino|work=Oxford Dictionary of National Biography}}</ref>


==Early life and education==
Salaman was married twice, first to ]<ref>{{cite web|author=Todd M. Endelman|title=Nina Ruth Davis Salaman|publisher=Jewish Women's Archive|url=http://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/salaman-nina-ruth-davis}}</ref> in 1901 with whom he had six children including a cancer researcher, a doctor, the engineer ], the artist ]<ref>{{cite news|title=Obituary &ndash; Ruth Collet|author= Marion Glastonbury|work=The Independent|date=28 June 2001}}</ref> and the singer ].<ref>{{cite web|author=Jane Miller |url=http://www.theguardian.com/news/2005/oct/26/guardianobituaries.artsobituaries1 |title=Obituary: Esther Salaman |work=The Guardian |date=2005-10-26 |accessdate=2014-04-07}}</ref> Nina died in 1925 and in 1926 Salaman met and married Gertrude who survived him.<ref name=smith/>
]
Salaman was born in ], ], and was the ninth of fifteen children born to Sarah ({{nee|Solomon}}) and Myer Salaman. His father was a wealthy merchant who traded in ostrich feathers at the height of the ].<ref name="Karl Popper and the Two New Secrets of Life"/><ref name="Palladino">{{cite web|url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/printable/35911|title=Salaman, Redcliffe Nathan (1874–1955), geneticist and Jewish activist|author=Paolo Palladino|work=Oxford Dictionary of National Biography|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140407123408/http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/printable/35911|archivedate=2014-04-07}}</ref> The Salaman family were ],<ref name="theguardian">{{cite news |last=Morrison|first=Blake|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2003/oct/11/featuresreviews.guardianreview2|title=Generation gap|newspaper=]|date=11 October 2013|accessdate=1 July 2018}}</ref> who according to Salaman, migrated to Britain from either ] or the ] in the early 18th century.<ref name="Plumes">{{cite book |last=Stein|first=Sarah Abrevaya|author-link=Sarah Abrevaya Stein|title=Plumes: Ostrich Feathers, Jews, and a Lost World of Global Commerce|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ikHj7Xc9lJUC&pg=PA180|year=2010|publisher=]|page=180|isbn=978-0300168181}}</ref>


He was educated at ], where he studied ] and science, and became ] of the school's Science Side. He obtained a scholarship at ] in 1893 and graduated with a first class degree in Natural Sciences in 1896, having studied physiology, zoology and chemistry. he was influenced by ] and was tutored and advised by the physiologist ], who later became a good friend of Salaman. While at Cambridge, he learned German from ]'s wife.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Endelman|first=Todd M.|date=2004|title=Anglo-Jewish Scientists and the Science of Race|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/4467695|journal=Jewish Social Studies|volume=11|issue=1|pages=52–92|doi=10.2979/JSS.2004.11.1.52|jstor=4467695|s2cid=162317546 |issn=0021-6704}}</ref> He moved to the ] in 1896 to study medicine and remained there until he qualified in 1900.<ref name="smith"/> He then studied experimental pathology at Würzburg and Berlin in 1901-2 before returning to London.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Singer|first=Charles|author-link=Charles Singer|date=1955-06-18|title=Obituary|journal=British Medical Journal|volume=1|issue=4928|pages=1479–1482|issn=0007-1447|pmc=2062257|pmid=14378604}}</ref>
==Education==
Salaman was educated at ] initially studying ] but due to the dull teaching methods he switched to studying science and later became head boy of the Science Side of the school. He obtained a scholarship at ] in 1893 and graduated with a first class degree in Natural Sciences in 1896 having studied physiology, zoology and chemistry. He was tutored and advised by the physiologist ] who later became a good friend of Salaman. He moved to the ] in 1896 to study medicine and remained there until he qualified in 1900.<ref name=smith/>


==Research== ==Research==
In 1903 Salaman was appointed Director of the Pathological Institute at the London Hospital but in 1904 he developed ] and had to stop practising medicine and spend six months in a Swiss ].<ref name=Palladino/><ref name="Reader2009">{{cite book|author=John Reader|title=The Untold History of the Potato|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LAM4s6arkhsC|year=2009|publisher=Vintage|isbn=978-0-09-947479-1|pages=221–225}}</ref> It took him over two years to fully recover from the illness, changing the course of his entire life. He purchased a house in ] and because he could not return to practising medicine began experimenting in the emerging science of ] under the guidance of his friend ].<ref name=smith/><ref name="Reader2009"/> After several failed experiments with a range of animals, Salaman decided to experiment with ]es after seeking advice from his gardener. Later in his career, commenting on his decision to study potatoes Salaman noted that he had "embarked on an enterprise which, after forty years, leaves more questions unsolved than were thought at that time to exist. Whether it was mere luck, or whether the potato and I were destined for life partnership, I do not know, but from that moment my course was set, and I became ever more involved in problems associated directly or indirectly with a plant with which I had no particular affinity, gustatory or romantic".<ref name="Reader2009"/> In 1903, Salaman was appointed Director of the Pathological Institute at the London Hospital, but in 1904 he developed ] and had to stop practising medicine and spend six months in a Swiss ].<ref name="Palladino"/><ref name="Reader2009">{{cite book|author=John Reader|title=The Untold History of the Potato|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LAM4s6arkhsC|year=2009|publisher=Vintage|isbn=978-0-09-947479-1|pages=221–225}}</ref> It took him over two years to fully recover from the illness. He purchased a house in ] and, because he could not return to practising medicine, began experimenting in the emerging science of ] under the guidance of his friend ].<ref name=smith/><ref name="Reader2009"/> After several failed experiments with a range of animals and seeking advice from his gardener, Salaman decided to experiment with potatoes. Later in his career, commenting on his decision to study potatoes, Salaman noted that he had "embarked on an enterprise which, after forty years, leaves more questions unsolved than were thought at that time to exist. Whether it was mere luck, or whether the potato and I were destined for life partnership, I do not know, but from that moment my course was set, and I became ever more involved in problems associated directly or indirectly with a plant with which I had no particular affinity, gustatory or romantic".<ref name="Reader2009"/>


Working in his private garden, he initially set out to cross two potato varieties and establish which traits were ] and ] in a similar manner to ]'s work on peas, but he soon broadened into other areas. In 1908 he decided to include wild potatoes in his experiments and requested that ] provide him with '']''. Kew's stocks had been incorrectly labelled however and Salaman was sent '']'' instead. In 1909 Salaman grew forty self-fertilised crosses of ''S. edinense'' and found that seven of them did not succumb to ] (''Phytophthora infestans''). Convinced that resistance to late blight existed in wild species he began to study other species and found that '']'' was also resistant to blight. Salaman started to cross ''S. demissum'' with domesticated varieties of potato in 1911 to produce high yielding lines that were also resistant to late blight. By 1914 he had successfully created hybrids and in 1926 he remarked that he had produced varieties with "reasonably good economic characteristics which, no matter what their maturity, appeared to be immune to late blight.<ref name="Reader2009"/> Salaman was the first to identify genetic resistance to late blight and ''S. demissum'' was still used as a source of resistance in the 1950s.<ref name=smith/> In '']'', John Reader called Salaman's discovery "an important breakthrough, offering real promise ... that it was possible to breed blight-resistant potato varieties".<ref name="Reader2009"/> In 1987 it was thought that half of the potato varieties cultivated in Europe contained genes from ''S. demissum''.<ref name=nee>{{Cite journal | doi = 10.2307/2806972| jstor = 2806972| title = The History and Social Influence of the Potato| journal = Brittonia| volume = 39| pages = 48| year = 1987| last1 = Nee | first1 = M. | last2 = Salaman | first2 = R. N.| last3 = Hawkes | first3 = J. G.}}</ref> Working in his private garden, he initially set out to cross two potato varieties and establish which traits were ] and ] in a similar manner to ]'s work on peas, but he soon broadened into other areas. In 1908, he decided to include wild potatoes in his experiments and requested that ] provide him with '']''. Kew's stocks had been incorrectly labelled, however, and Salaman was sent '']'' instead. In 1909, Salaman grew 40 self-fertilised crosses of ''S. edinense'' and found that seven of them did not succumb to ] (''Phytophthora infestans''). Convinced that resistance to late blight existed in wild species he began to study other species and found that '']'' was also resistant to blight. Salaman started to cross ''S. demissum'' with domesticated varieties of potato in 1911 to produce high yielding lines that were also resistant to late blight. By 1914, he had successfully created hybrids and in 1926 he remarked that he had produced varieties with "reasonably good economic characteristics which, no matter what their maturity, appeared to be immune to late blight.<ref name="Reader2009"/> Salaman was the first to identify genetic resistance to late blight and ''S. demissum'' was still used as a source of resistance in the 1950s.<ref name=smith/> In '']'', John Reader called Salaman's discovery "an important breakthrough, offering real promise ... that it was possible to breed blight-resistant potato varieties".<ref name="Reader2009"/> In 1987, it was thought that half of the potato varieties cultivated in Europe contained genes from ''S. demissum''.<ref name="nee">{{Cite journal | doi = 10.2307/2806972| jstor = 2806972| title = The History and Social Influence of the Potato| journal = Brittonia| volume = 39| pages = 48| year = 1987| last1 = Nee | first1 = M. | last2 = Salaman | first2 = R. N.| last3 = Hawkes | first3 = J. G.| issue = 1| bibcode = 1987Britt..39...48N| s2cid = 87155742}}</ref>


In 1910 he published a paper the inheritance of colour in potato in the first issue of the '']''.<ref>{{Cite journal | doi = 10.1007/BF02981567| title = The inheritance of colour and other characters in the potato| journal = Journal of Genetics| volume = 1| pages = 7| year = 1910| last1 = Salaman | first1 = R. N. }}</ref> Later papers in the '']'' examined ],<ref>{{Cite journal | doi = 10.1017/S0021859600004512| title = Genetic studies in potatoes; sterility| journal = Journal of Agricultural Science| volume = 12| pages = 31| year = 1923| last1 = Salaman | first1 = R. N.| last2 = Lesley | first2 = J. W.}}</ref> methods for estimating yields<ref name=tjoas1923>{{Cite journal | doi = 10.1017/S0021859600003816| title = The determination of the best method for estimating potato yields, together with a further note on the influence of size of seed on the character and yield of the potato. III| journal = Journal of Agricultural Science| volume = 13| issue = 4| pages = 361| year = 1923| last1 = Salaman | first1 = R. N. }}</ref> and detecting viruses in seed potatoes<ref>{{Cite journal | doi = 10.1017/S0021859600018803| title = A note on the production of premature sprouting in the potato, and its application to the study of virus diseases| journal = Journal of Agricultural Science| volume = 17| issue = 4| pages = 524| year = 1927| last1 = Salaman | first1 = R. N. }}</ref> and a study of how the size of seed tubers affected the yield and size of tubers of the crop.<ref name=tjoas1923/><ref>{{Cite journal | doi = 10.1017/S0021859600004901| title = The Influence of size and character of seed on the yield of potatoes| journal = Journal of Agricultural Science| volume = 12| issue = 2| pages = 182| year = 1922| last1 = Salaman | first1 = R. N. }}</ref> In 1910, he published a paper on the inheritance of colour in potato in the first issue of the '']''.<ref>{{Cite journal | doi = 10.1007/BF02981567| title = The inheritance of colour and other characters in the potato| journal = Journal of Genetics| volume = 1| pages = 7–46| year = 1910| last1 = Salaman | first1 = R. N. | s2cid = 5565454| url = https://zenodo.org/record/1516730}}</ref> Later papers in the '']'' examined ],<ref>{{Cite journal | doi = 10.1017/S0021859600004512| title = Genetic studies in potatoes; sterility| journal = Journal of Agricultural Science| volume = 12| pages = 31–39| year = 1923| last1 = Salaman | first1 = R. N.| last2 = Lesley | first2 = J. W.| s2cid = 84486413}}</ref> methods for estimating yields<ref name=tjoas1923>{{Cite journal | doi = 10.1017/S0021859600003816| title = The determination of the best method for estimating potato yields, together with a further note on the influence of size of seed on the character and yield of the potato. III| journal = Journal of Agricultural Science| volume = 13| issue = 4| pages = 361–389| year = 1923| last1 = Salaman | first1 = R. N. | s2cid = 85829878}}</ref> detecting viruses in seed potatoes<ref>{{Cite journal | doi = 10.1017/S0021859600018803| title = A note on the production of premature sprouting in the potato, and its application to the study of virus diseases| journal = Journal of Agricultural Science| volume = 17| issue = 4| pages = 524–529| year = 1927| last1 = Salaman | first1 = R. N. | s2cid = 85774298}}</ref> and a study of how the size of seed tubers affected the yield and size of tubers of the crop.<ref name=tjoas1923/><ref>{{Cite journal | doi = 10.1017/S0021859600004901| title = The Influence of size and character of seed on the yield of potatoes| journal = Journal of Agricultural Science| volume = 12| issue = 2| pages = 182–196| year = 1922| last1 = Salaman | first1 = R. N. | s2cid = 86465513}}</ref> He wrote the book ''Potato Varieties'' in 1929.<ref name="Karl Popper and the Two New Secrets of Life"/>


His research on potatoes was disrupted by the outbreak of the ] during which Salaman joined the ] and served in ]. Afterwards he was appointed chairman of the potato synonym committee at the ] where he was tasked with describing potato varieties and putting an end to the common practice of marketing old and unreliable varieties under new names. His work there culminated in the publication of ''Potato Varieties'' in 1926. The same year he persuaded the ] to establish the Potato Virus Research Institute in Cambridge of which he remained a director until 1939.<ref name=Palladino/> ] was an entomologist at the institute and ] became Salaman's assistant in 1930. Smith and Bawden went on to become renowned plant virologists.<ref name="Ainsworth1981">{{cite book|author=Geoffrey Clough Ainsworth|title=Introduction to the History of Plant Pathology|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=j-s8AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA83|year=1981|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-23032-2|pages=84–85}}</ref> In conjunction with ] of ] a large stock of virus-free potatoes was built up and multiplied in greenhouses, a practice which continued after his death and was adopted in other countries.<ref name=smith/> His research on viruses lead to him being elected to the ] in 1935.<ref name=Palladino/> His research on potatoes was disrupted by the outbreak of the ], during which Salaman joined the ] and served in ]. Afterwards he was appointed chairman of the potato synonym committee at the ] where he was tasked with describing potato varieties and putting an end to the common practice of marketing old and unreliable varieties under new names. His work there culminated in the publication of ''Potato Varieties'' in 1926. The same year he persuaded the ] to establish the Potato Virus Research Institute in Cambridge, of which he remained a director until 1939.<ref name=Palladino/> ] was an entomologist at the institute and ] became Salaman's assistant in 1930. Smith and Bawden went on to become renowned plant virologists.<ref name="Ainsworth1981">{{cite book|author=Geoffrey Clough Ainsworth|author-link=Geoffrey Clough Ainsworth|title=Introduction to the History of Plant Pathology|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=j-s8AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA83|year=1981|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-23032-2|pages=84–85}}</ref> In conjunction with ] of ]. a large stock of virus-free potatoes was built up and multiplied in greenhouses, a practice which continued after his death and was adopted in other countries.<ref name="smith"/> His research on viruses lead to him being elected to the ] in 1935.<ref name="Palladino"/>


===''The History and Social Influence of the Potato''===
Salaman supervised the PhD thesis of ], who went on to become an authority in the taxonomy of wild potato species and identified sources of resistance to ]s.<ref>{{Cite journal | doi = 10.1007/s10722-004-8253-8|author=Richard N. Lester|title=Book Review - Hunting the Wild Potato in the South American Andes: Memories of the British Empire Potato Collecting Expedition to South America 1938–1939|journal=Genetic Resources and Crop Evolution|year=2005|volume=52|pages=483–488}}</ref>
Salaman authored ''The History and Social Influence of the Potato'' first published in 1949, reprinted in 1970,<ref name=austin
>{{cite journal|jstor=30005769|title=Review: The History and Social Influence of the Potato by Redcliffe N. Salaman|author=P. M. Austin Bourke|journal=Irish Historical Studies|volume= 17|year=1971|pages=410–413}}</ref> and revised under the guidance of his former doctoral student ] in 1987.<ref name="nee"/> A review of the first edition in the '']'' noted that it was an "unusual and vastly interesting book which took nine years to write, and a life-time to prepare" combining genetics, history and archaeology.<ref>{{Cite journal | doi = 10.2307/587558| jstor = 587558| title = The History and Social Influence of the Potato| journal = The British Journal of Sociology| volume = 1| issue = 2| pages = 172| year = 1950| last1 = Beales | first1 = H. L.| last2 = Salaman | first2 = R. N. }}</ref> The book covers every aspect of the ] with a particular focus on Ireland, about which he wrote "in no other country can influence on the domestic and economic life of the people be studied to greater advantage".<ref name=austin/><ref>{{cite news|title=Have we forgotten our roots?|newspaper=The Irish Times|date=6 December 2011|author=John McKenna}}</ref>


The historian ] referred to the work as "that magnificent monument of scholarship and humanity".<ref name="Salaman1985">{{cite book|author=Redcliffe N. Salaman|title=The History and Social Influence of the Potato|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EV4YE_0RsywC&pg=PA688|date=21 November 1985|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-31623-1|page=688}}</ref> A 1999 paper in ''Potato Research'' noted that because of Salaman's "unprecedented" book, we "know more about the impact of the diffusion of potato on the welfare of people, particularly the poor, than about such consequences following the introduction of any other major food plant."<ref>{{Cite journal | doi = 10.1007/BF02357856| title = World trends and patterns in the potato crop: An economic and geographic survey| journal = Potato Research| volume = 42| issue = 2| pages = 241| year = 1999| last1 = Walker | first1 = T. S.| last2 = Schmiediche | first2 = P. E.| last3 = Hijmans | first3 = R. J.| s2cid = 21552566}}</ref>
==''The History and Social Influence of the Potato''==
===Eugenics===
Salaman authored ''The History and Social Influence of the Potato'' first published in 1949, reprinted in 1970<ref name=austin
>{{cite journal|url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/30005769|title=Review: The History and Social Influence of the Potato by Redcliffe N. Salaman|author=P. M. Austin Bourke|journal=Irish Historical Studies|volume= 17|year=1971|pages=410–413}}</ref> and revised under the guidance of Jack Hawkes in 1987.<ref name="nee"/> A review of the first edition in ''The British Journal of Sociology'' noted that it was an "unusual and vastly interesting book which took nine years to write, and a life-time to prepare" combining genetics, history and archaeology.<ref>{{Cite journal | doi = 10.2307/587558| jstor = 587558| title = The History and Social Influence of the Potato| journal = The British Journal of Sociology| volume = 1| issue = 2| pages = 172| year = 1950| last1 = Beales | first1 = H. L.| last2 = Salaman | first2 = R. N. }}</ref> The book covers every aspect of the ] with a particular focus on ] about which he wrote "in no other country can influence on the domestic and economic life of the people be studied to greater advantage".<ref name=austin/><ref>{{cite news|title=Have we forgotten our roots?|work=The Irish Times|date=6 December 2011|author=John McKenna}}</ref>


Salaman also took an interest in eugenics with a special interest in Jews and the supposed unique genetic traits. He tried to characterize the typical Jewish face and considered that the separation of Sephardis and Ashkenazis had led to divergent characters. He published these ideas in the first volume of the newly founded '']'' in 1911.<ref>{{cite journal|author=Salaman, Redcliffe N.|year=1911|title=Heredity of the Jews.|journal=Journal of Genetics|volume=1|issue=3|pages=273–292|doi=10.1007/BF02981553|s2cid=30609805 |url=https://www.ias.ac.in/article/fulltext/jgen/001/03/0273-0292}}</ref> His work was critiqued by ] who writing in '']'' in 1912, called it "scientifically ludicrous".<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Laski|first=H. J.|date=1912|title=A Mendelian View of Racial Heredity|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/2331592|journal=Biometrika|volume=8|issue=3/4|pages=424–430|doi=10.2307/2331592|jstor=2331592|issn=0006-3444}}</ref>
The historian ] referred to the work as "that magnificent monument of scholarship and humanity".<ref name="Salaman1985">{{cite book|author=Redcliffe N. Salaman|title=The History and Social Influence of the Potato|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EV4YE_0RsywC&pg=PA688|date=21 November 1985|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-31623-1|page=688}}</ref> A 1999 paper in ''Potato Research'' noted that because of Salaman's "unprecedented" book, we "know more about the impact of the diffusion of potato on the welfare of people, particularly the poor, than about such consequences following the introduction of any other major food plant."<ref>{{Cite journal | doi = 10.1007/BF02357856| title = World trends and patterns in the potato crop: An economic and geographic survey| journal = Potato Research| volume = 42| issue = 2| pages = 241| year = 1999| last1 = Walker | first1 = T. S.| last2 = Schmiediche | first2 = P. E.| last3 = Hijmans | first3 = R. J.}}</ref>


==Political affiliations and other memberships==
==Further reading==
Salaman was a proponent of Zionism and Jewish causes, and in 1907, he was elected president of the English ].<ref name=Weintraub>{{cite journal |last=Weintraub |first=B. |date=2019 |title=Redcliffe Nathan Salaman (1874–1955) and the first potato plant with "genuine resistance" to late blight |journal=The Israel Chemist and Chemical Engineer |volume=5 |pages=28–34 |url=https://www.chemistry.org.il/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/ICE_November-2019.pdf#page=28}}</ref>
* Daniel Dornhofer: ''] reclaimed. ] und ] unter dem Eindruck des ],'' in ''transversal. Zeitschrift für jüdische Studien.'' № 2, Year 14, ] 2013, {{ISSN|1607-629X}} pp. 59 - 75 (in German)

In his academic life, he was president of the ], a council member for the Jews’ College (today the ]), a founder of the ], and a member of the board of governors of the ].<ref name=Weintraub/><ref name="Endelman 2004 pp. 52–92">{{cite journal | last=Endelman | first=Todd M. |author-link=Todd Endelman |title=Anglo-Jewish Scientists and the Science of Race | journal=Jewish Social Studies | publisher=Indiana University Press | volume=11 | issue=1 | year=2004 | issn=0021-6704 | jstor=4467695 | pages=52–92 | doi=10.2979/JSS.2004.11.1.52 | s2cid=162317546 | url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/4467695 | access-date=16 July 2023}}</ref>

In 1933, he was a founding member of the ], which helped scientists fleeing the Nazi regime, and in 1945 was chairman of the Jewish Committee for Relief Abroad as it worked to rehabilitate survivors of the extermination camps.<ref name=Weintraub/>

==Personal life==
] in 1918]]
On 23 October 1901, Salaman married ] scholar ], whom he had met four months earlier at the ]. They were engaged ten days after meeting. After living in ] for several months, while Redcliffe completed advanced training in pathology, they returned to London, where he assumed the directorship of the Pathological Institute at the London Hospital.<ref name="jwa">{{cite web |last=Endelman|first=Todd M.|url=https://www.jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/salaman-nina-ruth-davis|title=Nina Ruth Davis Salaman|publisher=Jewish Women's Archive|date= |accessdate=1 July 2018}}</ref> They had six children including the pathologist {{ill|Myer Head Salaman|WD=Q75423436}}, the doctor Arthur Gabriel Salaman, the engineer ], the artist ]<ref>{{cite news|title=Obituary &ndash; Ruth Collet|author= Marion Glastonbury|work=The Independent|date=28 June 2001}}</ref> and the singer {{ill|Esther Salaman (singer)|lt=Esther Sarah Salaman|WD=Q55611055}}.<ref name="guardian">{{cite news |last=Miller|first=Jane|url=https://www.guardian.co.uk/news/2005/oct/26/guardianobituaries.artsobituaries1|title=Obituary: Esther Salaman|newspaper=]|date=26 October 2005|accessdate=7 April 2014}}</ref> They settled in the country, in the village of Barley in Hertfordshire, where they lived with their six children (one of whom died in childhood). Nina Salaman continued to pursue her interest in medieval Hebrew poetry. Despite Barley's distance from London, she maintained a kosher home and ] observance. For the festivals, the family traveled to London, where they stayed with one of Redcliffe's siblings and attended the ]. She took personal responsibility for the Hebrew education of her children until they left for boarding school.<ref name="jwa"/>

In 1925, Salaman's first wife Nina died. In 1926, he met and married Gertrude Lowy (1887&ndash;1982)—granddaughter of ]<ref name=palgrave>{{cite encyclopedia|title=Löwy, Albert|pages=620–621|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hJc8afOZV0QC&pg=PA620|editor1-last=Rubinstein|editor1-first=William D.|editor1-link=William Rubinstein|editor2-last=Jolles|editor2-first=Michael A.|editor3-last=Rubinstein|editor3-first=Hillary L.| encyclopedia=The Palgrave Dictionary of Anglo-Jewish History|publisher=Palgrave Macmillan|location=London|year=2011|isbn=978-0-230-30466-6|oclc=793104984}}</ref>—who survived him.<ref name="smith"/>

Salaman's paternal granddaughter is Chair of ] ].<ref name="thejc">{{cite news |last=Doherty|first=Rosa|url=https://www.thejc.com/news/news-features/jeremy-corbyn-s-devoted-defender-jewish-voice-for-labour-jenny-manson-1.465660|title=Meet Jeremy Corbyn's devoted Jewish defender: Jenny Manson|newspaper=]|date=19 June 2018|accessdate=1 July 2018}}</ref>

==Biographical works==

Salaman's life is recalled in the 2022 biographical work ''The Last Anglo-Jewish Gentleman: The Life and Times of Redcliffe Nathan Salaman'' by ], as part of a series entitled "The Modern Jewish Experience" by ].<ref name=Endelman>{{cite book |title=The Last Anglo-Jewish Gentleman: The Life and Times of Redcliffe Nathan Salaman |series=The Modern Jewish Experience |first=Todd M. |last=Endelman |author-link=Todd Endelman |publisher=Indiana University Press |date=2022 |isbn=9780253061768 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KcVrEAAAQBAJ}}</ref>


==References== ==References==
{{reflist|30em}} {{Reflist}}


==External links== ==External links==
* *
* at the ]

*{{cite journal |url=https://www.chemistry.org.il/resources/ice/ |title=Redcliffe Nathan Salaman (1874-1955) and the first potato plant with "genuine resistance" to late blight |journal=Israel Chemist and Chemical Engineer |issue=5 |last=Weintraub |first=Bob |date=November 2019}}
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Latest revision as of 17:15, 11 December 2024

English botanist

Redcliffe Salaman
BornRedcliffe Nathan Salaman
(1874-09-12)12 September 1874
Kensington, London, England, United Kingdom
Died12 June 1955(1955-06-12) (aged 80)
United Kingdom
EducationSt Paul's School
Alma materTrinity Hall, Cambridge
Spouses
Nina Ruth Davis ​ ​(m. 1901; died 1925)
Gertrude Lowy ​(m. 1926)
Children6 (incl. Raphael Salaman and Ruth Collet)
Scientific career
Doctoral studentsJack Hawkes

Redcliffe Nathan Salaman (12 September 1874 – 12 June 1955) was a British physician, biologist who pioneered the breeding of blight-free potatoes, Jewish nationalist, race scientist and key figure in the Anglo-Jewish community in the 20th century. His groundbreaking 1949 book The History and Social Influence of the Potato established the history of nutrients as a new literary genre.

Early life and education

Bust of Salaman's mother Sarah

Salaman was born in Kensington, London, and was the ninth of fifteen children born to Sarah (née Solomon) and Myer Salaman. His father was a wealthy merchant who traded in ostrich feathers at the height of the plume trade. The Salaman family were Ashkenazi Jews, who according to Salaman, migrated to Britain from either Holland or the Rhineland in the early 18th century.

He was educated at St Paul's School, London, where he studied classics and science, and became head boy of the school's Science Side. He obtained a scholarship at Trinity Hall, Cambridge in 1893 and graduated with a first class degree in Natural Sciences in 1896, having studied physiology, zoology and chemistry. he was influenced by Michael Foster and was tutored and advised by the physiologist W. H. Gaskell, who later became a good friend of Salaman. While at Cambridge, he learned German from Solomon Schechter's wife. He moved to the London Hospital in 1896 to study medicine and remained there until he qualified in 1900. He then studied experimental pathology at Würzburg and Berlin in 1901-2 before returning to London.

Research

In 1903, Salaman was appointed Director of the Pathological Institute at the London Hospital, but in 1904 he developed tuberculosis and had to stop practising medicine and spend six months in a Swiss sanitorium. It took him over two years to fully recover from the illness. He purchased a house in Barley, Hertfordshire and, because he could not return to practising medicine, began experimenting in the emerging science of genetics under the guidance of his friend William Bateson. After several failed experiments with a range of animals and seeking advice from his gardener, Salaman decided to experiment with potatoes. Later in his career, commenting on his decision to study potatoes, Salaman noted that he had "embarked on an enterprise which, after forty years, leaves more questions unsolved than were thought at that time to exist. Whether it was mere luck, or whether the potato and I were destined for life partnership, I do not know, but from that moment my course was set, and I became ever more involved in problems associated directly or indirectly with a plant with which I had no particular affinity, gustatory or romantic".

Working in his private garden, he initially set out to cross two potato varieties and establish which traits were dominant and recessive in a similar manner to Gregor Mendel's work on peas, but he soon broadened into other areas. In 1908, he decided to include wild potatoes in his experiments and requested that Kew Gardens provide him with Solanum maglia. Kew's stocks had been incorrectly labelled, however, and Salaman was sent Solanum edinense instead. In 1909, Salaman grew 40 self-fertilised crosses of S. edinense and found that seven of them did not succumb to late blight (Phytophthora infestans). Convinced that resistance to late blight existed in wild species he began to study other species and found that Solanum demissum was also resistant to blight. Salaman started to cross S. demissum with domesticated varieties of potato in 1911 to produce high yielding lines that were also resistant to late blight. By 1914, he had successfully created hybrids and in 1926 he remarked that he had produced varieties with "reasonably good economic characteristics which, no matter what their maturity, appeared to be immune to late blight. Salaman was the first to identify genetic resistance to late blight and S. demissum was still used as a source of resistance in the 1950s. In The Propitious Esculent, John Reader called Salaman's discovery "an important breakthrough, offering real promise ... that it was possible to breed blight-resistant potato varieties". In 1987, it was thought that half of the potato varieties cultivated in Europe contained genes from S. demissum.

In 1910, he published a paper on the inheritance of colour in potato in the first issue of the Journal of Genetics. Later papers in the Journal of Agricultural Science examined male sterility, methods for estimating yields detecting viruses in seed potatoes and a study of how the size of seed tubers affected the yield and size of tubers of the crop. He wrote the book Potato Varieties in 1929.

His research on potatoes was disrupted by the outbreak of the First World War, during which Salaman joined the Royal Army Medical Corps and served in Palestine. Afterwards he was appointed chairman of the potato synonym committee at the National Institute of Agricultural Botany where he was tasked with describing potato varieties and putting an end to the common practice of marketing old and unreliable varieties under new names. His work there culminated in the publication of Potato Varieties in 1926. The same year he persuaded the Ministry of Agriculture to establish the Potato Virus Research Institute in Cambridge, of which he remained a director until 1939. Kenneth Manley Smith was an entomologist at the institute and Frederick Charles Bawden became Salaman's assistant in 1930. Smith and Bawden went on to become renowned plant virologists. In conjunction with Paul A. Murphy of Dublin. a large stock of virus-free potatoes was built up and multiplied in greenhouses, a practice which continued after his death and was adopted in other countries. His research on viruses lead to him being elected to the Royal Society in 1935.

The History and Social Influence of the Potato

Salaman authored The History and Social Influence of the Potato first published in 1949, reprinted in 1970, and revised under the guidance of his former doctoral student Jack Hawkes in 1987. A review of the first edition in the British Journal of Sociology noted that it was an "unusual and vastly interesting book which took nine years to write, and a life-time to prepare" combining genetics, history and archaeology. The book covers every aspect of the history of the potato with a particular focus on Ireland, about which he wrote "in no other country can influence on the domestic and economic life of the people be studied to greater advantage".

The historian Eric Hobsbawm referred to the work as "that magnificent monument of scholarship and humanity". A 1999 paper in Potato Research noted that because of Salaman's "unprecedented" book, we "know more about the impact of the diffusion of potato on the welfare of people, particularly the poor, than about such consequences following the introduction of any other major food plant."

Eugenics

Salaman also took an interest in eugenics with a special interest in Jews and the supposed unique genetic traits. He tried to characterize the typical Jewish face and considered that the separation of Sephardis and Ashkenazis had led to divergent characters. He published these ideas in the first volume of the newly founded Journal of Genetics in 1911. His work was critiqued by Harold Laski who writing in Biometrika in 1912, called it "scientifically ludicrous".

Political affiliations and other memberships

Salaman was a proponent of Zionism and Jewish causes, and in 1907, he was elected president of the English Zionist Federation.

In his academic life, he was president of the Jewish Historical Society, a council member for the Jews’ College (today the London School of Jewish Studies), a founder of the Jewish Health Organization of Great Britain, and a member of the board of governors of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

In 1933, he was a founding member of the Academic Assistance Council, which helped scientists fleeing the Nazi regime, and in 1945 was chairman of the Jewish Committee for Relief Abroad as it worked to rehabilitate survivors of the extermination camps.

Personal life

Nina Salaman in 1918

On 23 October 1901, Salaman married Hebrew scholar Nina Ruth Davis, whom he had met four months earlier at the New West End Synagogue. They were engaged ten days after meeting. After living in Berlin for several months, while Redcliffe completed advanced training in pathology, they returned to London, where he assumed the directorship of the Pathological Institute at the London Hospital. They had six children including the pathologist Myer Head Salaman [Wikidata], the doctor Arthur Gabriel Salaman, the engineer Raphael Salaman, the artist Ruth Collet and the singer Esther Sarah Salaman [Wikidata]. They settled in the country, in the village of Barley in Hertfordshire, where they lived with their six children (one of whom died in childhood). Nina Salaman continued to pursue her interest in medieval Hebrew poetry. Despite Barley's distance from London, she maintained a kosher home and Sabbath observance. For the festivals, the family traveled to London, where they stayed with one of Redcliffe's siblings and attended the New West End Synagogue. She took personal responsibility for the Hebrew education of her children until they left for boarding school.

In 1925, Salaman's first wife Nina died. In 1926, he met and married Gertrude Lowy (1887–1982)—granddaughter of Albert Löwy—who survived him.

Salaman's paternal granddaughter is Chair of Jewish Voice for Labour Jenny Manson.

Biographical works

Salaman's life is recalled in the 2022 biographical work The Last Anglo-Jewish Gentleman: The Life and Times of Redcliffe Nathan Salaman by Todd Endelman, as part of a series entitled "The Modern Jewish Experience" by Indiana University Press.

References

  1. Richard N. Lester (2005). "Book Review - Hunting the Wild Potato in the South American Andes: Memories of the British Empire Potato Collecting Expedition to South America 1938–1939". Genetic Resources and Crop Evolution. 52: 483–488. doi:10.1007/s10722-005-8253-3.
  2. ^ Endelman, Todd M. (2022). The Last Anglo-Jewish Gentleman: The Life and Times of Redcliffe Nathan Salaman. The Modern Jewish Experience. Indiana University Press. ISBN 9780253061768.
  3. ^ Smith, K. M. (1955). "Redcliffe Nathan Salaman. 1874-1955". Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society. 1: 238–245. doi:10.1098/rsbm.1955.0017. S2CID 71902371.
  4. ^ Niemann, Hans-Joachim (2014). Karl Popper and the Two New Secrets of Life. Mohr Siebeck. p. 39. ISBN 978-3161532078.
  5. ^ Paolo Palladino. "Salaman, Redcliffe Nathan (1874–1955), geneticist and Jewish activist". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Archived from the original on 7 April 2014.
  6. Morrison, Blake (11 October 2013). "Generation gap". The Guardian. Retrieved 1 July 2018.
  7. Stein, Sarah Abrevaya (2010). Plumes: Ostrich Feathers, Jews, and a Lost World of Global Commerce. Yale University Press. p. 180. ISBN 978-0300168181.
  8. Endelman, Todd M. (2004). "Anglo-Jewish Scientists and the Science of Race". Jewish Social Studies. 11 (1): 52–92. doi:10.2979/JSS.2004.11.1.52. ISSN 0021-6704. JSTOR 4467695. S2CID 162317546.
  9. Singer, Charles (18 June 1955). "Obituary". British Medical Journal. 1 (4928): 1479–1482. ISSN 0007-1447. PMC 2062257. PMID 14378604.
  10. ^ John Reader (2009). The Untold History of the Potato. Vintage. pp. 221–225. ISBN 978-0-09-947479-1.
  11. ^ Nee, M.; Salaman, R. N.; Hawkes, J. G. (1987). "The History and Social Influence of the Potato". Brittonia. 39 (1): 48. Bibcode:1987Britt..39...48N. doi:10.2307/2806972. JSTOR 2806972. S2CID 87155742.
  12. Salaman, R. N. (1910). "The inheritance of colour and other characters in the potato". Journal of Genetics. 1: 7–46. doi:10.1007/BF02981567. S2CID 5565454.
  13. Salaman, R. N.; Lesley, J. W. (1923). "Genetic studies in potatoes; sterility". Journal of Agricultural Science. 12: 31–39. doi:10.1017/S0021859600004512. S2CID 84486413.
  14. ^ Salaman, R. N. (1923). "The determination of the best method for estimating potato yields, together with a further note on the influence of size of seed on the character and yield of the potato. III". Journal of Agricultural Science. 13 (4): 361–389. doi:10.1017/S0021859600003816. S2CID 85829878.
  15. Salaman, R. N. (1927). "A note on the production of premature sprouting in the potato, and its application to the study of virus diseases". Journal of Agricultural Science. 17 (4): 524–529. doi:10.1017/S0021859600018803. S2CID 85774298.
  16. Salaman, R. N. (1922). "The Influence of size and character of seed on the yield of potatoes". Journal of Agricultural Science. 12 (2): 182–196. doi:10.1017/S0021859600004901. S2CID 86465513.
  17. Geoffrey Clough Ainsworth (1981). Introduction to the History of Plant Pathology. Cambridge University Press. pp. 84–85. ISBN 978-0-521-23032-2.
  18. ^ P. M. Austin Bourke (1971). "Review: The History and Social Influence of the Potato by Redcliffe N. Salaman". Irish Historical Studies. 17: 410–413. JSTOR 30005769.
  19. Beales, H. L.; Salaman, R. N. (1950). "The History and Social Influence of the Potato". The British Journal of Sociology. 1 (2): 172. doi:10.2307/587558. JSTOR 587558.
  20. John McKenna (6 December 2011). "Have we forgotten our roots?". The Irish Times.
  21. Redcliffe N. Salaman (21 November 1985). The History and Social Influence of the Potato. Cambridge University Press. p. 688. ISBN 978-0-521-31623-1.
  22. Walker, T. S.; Schmiediche, P. E.; Hijmans, R. J. (1999). "World trends and patterns in the potato crop: An economic and geographic survey". Potato Research. 42 (2): 241. doi:10.1007/BF02357856. S2CID 21552566.
  23. Salaman, Redcliffe N. (1911). "Heredity of the Jews". Journal of Genetics. 1 (3): 273–292. doi:10.1007/BF02981553. S2CID 30609805.
  24. Laski, H. J. (1912). "A Mendelian View of Racial Heredity". Biometrika. 8 (3/4): 424–430. doi:10.2307/2331592. ISSN 0006-3444. JSTOR 2331592.
  25. ^ Weintraub, B. (2019). "Redcliffe Nathan Salaman (1874–1955) and the first potato plant with "genuine resistance" to late blight" (PDF). The Israel Chemist and Chemical Engineer. 5: 28–34.
  26. Endelman, Todd M. (2004). "Anglo-Jewish Scientists and the Science of Race". Jewish Social Studies. 11 (1). Indiana University Press: 52–92. doi:10.2979/JSS.2004.11.1.52. ISSN 0021-6704. JSTOR 4467695. S2CID 162317546. Retrieved 16 July 2023.
  27. ^ Endelman, Todd M. "Nina Ruth Davis Salaman". Jewish Women's Archive. Retrieved 1 July 2018.
  28. Marion Glastonbury (28 June 2001). "Obituary – Ruth Collet". The Independent.
  29. Miller, Jane (26 October 2005). "Obituary: Esther Salaman". The Guardian. Retrieved 7 April 2014.
  30. Rubinstein, William D.; Jolles, Michael A.; Rubinstein, Hillary L., eds. (2011). "Löwy, Albert". The Palgrave Dictionary of Anglo-Jewish History. London: Palgrave Macmillan. pp. 620–621. ISBN 978-0-230-30466-6. OCLC 793104984.
  31. Doherty, Rosa (19 June 2018). "Meet Jeremy Corbyn's devoted Jewish defender: Jenny Manson". The Jewish Chronicle. Retrieved 1 July 2018.

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