Benjamin Minge Duggar
Benjamin Minge Duggar (September 1, 1872 – September 10, 1956) was an American plant physiologist. Surprisingly, he is best remembered for his contribution to another discipline, through his discovery in 1945 of chlortetracycline (Aureomycin), the first of the tetracycline antibiotics, from a soil bacterium growing in allotment soil. Biography Benjamin Minge Duggar was born at Gallion, Hale County, Alabama on September 1, 1872. He studied at several Southern schools, including the University of Alabama (1887-1889), Mississippi A & M College (B.S., 1891), and Alabama Polytechnic Institute (M.S., 1892); at Harvard and Cornell (Ph.D., 1898) and in Europe. As a specialist in botany, he held various positions in experiment stations and colleges until 1901, when he was appointed physiologist in the Bureau of Plant Industry, United States Department of Agriculture. He was professor of botany at the University of Missouri from 1902 to 1907 and spent a sabbatical at institutions in Germany, Italy, and France (1905-1906). From 1907 to 1912 Duggar held the chair of plant physiology at Cornell University. In 1912 he became a research professor of plant physiology at Washington University, working with the Missouri Botanical Garden in St. Louis. From 1917 to 1919, he was acting professor of