Yvonne Aitken (17 October 1911 – 29 November 2004) was an Australian agricultural scientist whose contributions to the field included studies of plant flowering as it depends on climate, season, and genetic factors. She was appointed as a Member of the Order of Australia in 1989.
Aitken's primary goal was to produce a greater range of consumable crops. By comparing flowering data for particular plant varieties across various latitudes, and under laboratory conditions, Aitken deduced fundamental factors that governed the transition of plants from the vegetative to reproductive states. In general, those plants flowering earliest under given conditions had the least dependence on climate whereas later-flowering varieties reacted strongly to the climate setup.
Background and personal life
Aitken was born on 17 October 1911 in Horsham, Victoria to David Aitken and Arabella Miller. She was the eldest of two children. Aitken was educated at the Convents of Mercy in the town in which her father worked as a bank manager. Her mother worked as a school teacher. While the Convents of Mercy did not provide education in the sciences, she attended the renowned Sacred Heart College in Ballarat, on scholarship, for the last two years of secondary education. Aitken later received a scholarship called a Government Free Place that would enable her to attend the University of Melbourne to study agricultural sciences, despite financial pressures of the Great Depression at the time. Without prior background in the sciences or farming, agricultural science was a subject suggested by younger nuns who were beginning to learn about geology and botany at the School of Mines in Ballarat.
Despite the immense amount of time Aitken spent dedicated to her research, she enjoyed weaving and painting watercolors of the places that she visited for work over the years. She never married or had children.
Education and career
Aitken spent many years at the University of Melbourne, as a student, a lecturer, and a researcher.
In 1930 Aitken entered into residence at Janet Clarke Hall, the women's hostel of Trinity College, University of Melbourne while studying her Bachelors of Agricultural Science (BAgSc) degree, which she received in 1936. During these years, she was introduced to physics, zoology, chemistry, and botany for the first time. At the end of her second year of undergraduate studies, she was interrupted by an illness that forced her to return home. Her mother cared for her for two years before she returned to finish her degree. She continued with her Government Free Place scholarship, and found herself one of two women in the entire agricultural science class.
When Aitken first began her studies at the University of Melbourne, she met the head of Faculty of Agriculture, Professor Wadham. While she was recovering from her illness, Wadham suggested that she study the native grasses in the rural area surrounding St. Arnaud. After receiving her degree, Aitken wanted further scientific training. While contemplating her graduate field of study, Wadham proposed that she go to Burnley Gardens to help with the investigation of subterranean clover.
She worked with Jim Harrison, another Melbourne graduate, who had been working on collecting samples of subterranean clover and studying its natural variation in growing season for seven years prior. Through two sets of extensive experiments, including a four-year time-of-sowing experiment, they were able to conclude that flowering time was controlled by response to hours of daylight and temperature change. This got Aitken primarily interested in her life's work.
She received her Master of Agricultural Science (MAgSc) degree from the University of Melbourne in 1939, with the side-project she submitted, stemming from her time at Burnley Gardens on seed hardness of subterranean clover. Around the same time, in 1938, Aitken began a research project that aimed to halt and reverse wheat crop decline by introducing crop legumes, like field pea, to return nitrogen to the soil.
Aitken took some time off from her education to work as a lecturer at the University of Melbourne (1945-1957). Aitken was promoted to the position of Senior Lecturer in 1957. She held this position until 1974 when she stepped down to pursue research and other career options.