Frederick Blackman

Who was Frederick Blackman?

Frederick Frost Blackman FRS was a British plant physiologist.

Frederick Blackman was born in Lambeth, London to a doctor. He studied medicine at St. Bartholomew's Hospital, graduating MA. In the subsequent years, he studied natural sciences at the University of Cambridge and was awarded DSc.

He conducted research on plant physiology, in particular photosynthesis, in Cambridge until his retirement in 1936. Gabrielle Matthaei was his assistant until 1905. He was elected in May 1906 a Fellow of the Royal Society, his candidature citation reading "Fellow of St John's College, Cambridge. Ex-Lecturer and now Reader in Botany in the University. Has made distinguished investigations in physiology of plants, of which the following may be mentioned: Experimental Researches on Vegetable Assimilation and Respiration, viz: - 'On a New Method for investigating the Carbonic Acid Exchanges of Plants'; 'On the Paths of Gaseous Exchange between Aerial Leaves and the Atmosphere'; by his pupil, Miss Mattaei, 'On the Effect of Temperature on Carbon-Dioxide Assimilation'; 'A Quantitative Study of Carbon-Dioxide Assimilation and Leaf-Temperature in Natural Illumination'; 'Optima and Limiting Factors'; 'On the Reaction of Leaves to Traumatic Stimulation'; and other papers. ". In 1921 he was awarded their Royal Medal and in 1923 delivered their Croonian lecture.