Access
Publication Rights
Preferred Citation
Acquisition Information
Biographical Narrative
Scope and Content of collection
Processing Information
Related Archival Materials
Contributing Institution:
University of California, Santa Cruz
Title: Kenneth V. Thimann papers
Creator:
Thimann, Kenneth Vivian,
1904-1997
Identifier/Call Number: MS.071
Physical Description:
78.4 Linear Feet
162 boxes (141 doc boxes/half cartons, 17 flats/photo boxes, 2
roll boxes, 2 cartons)
Date (inclusive): 1839, 1921-1997
Date (bulk): 1940-1990
Physical Location: Collection stored off-site at NRLF:
Advance notice is required for access.
Language of Material: The majority of the collection is
in English, but some materials are written in German, French, and Czech.
Access
Collection open for research. Audiovisual media is unavailable until reformatted. Contact
Special Collections and Archives in advance to request access to audiovisual media.
Publication Rights
Property rights for this collection reside with the University of California. Literary
rights, including copyright, are retained by the creators and their heirs. The publication
or use of any work protected by copyright beyond that allowed by fair use for research or
educational purposes requires written permission from the copyright owner. Responsibility
for obtaining permissions, and for any use rests exclusively with the user.
Preferred Citation
Kenneth V. Thimann Papers, MS 71, Special Collections and Archives, University Library,
University of California, Santa Cruz.
Acquisition Information
Gift of the Thimann family in 1997.
Biographical Narrative
Kenneth V. Thimann was an English-born American plant physiologist who is best known for
his isolation of the plant growth hormone auxin. His identification of this hormone allowed
for the production of several herbicides that were of critical importance to agricultural
and horticultural industries. Thimann wrote or coauthored over 300 articles and several
books, including
Phytohormones (1937);
The Life of Bacteria (1955);
Hormone Action in the Whole
Life of Plants
(1977); and
Botany: Plant Biology and Its
Relation to Human Affairs
(1982).
Thimann was born in Ashford, England, on August 5, 1904 to Muriel Kate Harding and Israel
Phoebus Thimann. He earned his B.Sc. in Chemistry in 1924 and Ph.D. in Biochemistry in 1928,
both from Imperial College, University of London. He married Ann Mary Bateman in 1929, with
whom he had three children. He became an American citizen in 1941.
Thimann taught at the University of London for several years before coming to the
California Institute of Technology in 1930, where he was an instructor in bacteriology and
biochemistry. In 1935, Thimann joined the faculty of Harvard University, where he remained
for 30 years. He served as the director of Harvard's Biological Laboratories from 1946-1950,
and was the Higgins Professor of Biology from 1962-1965. In 1962, he became the first master
of East House at Radcliffe College. In 1965, Thimann moved to California, and became
professor of biology and the first provost of Crown College at the University of California,
Santa Cruz. He retired as provost in 1972, and moved to Haverford, Pennsylvania in 1989.
Thimann was a technical consultant to the U.S. Office of Scientific Research and
Development from 1942-1945. During this time, he also worked with the Operational Research
Group of the U.S. Navy in Washington, D.C., London, and Pearl Harbor.
Thimann served on numerous international scientific societies, associations, and editorial
boards throughout his career. He was President of the American Institute of Biological
Sciences (1965), the Botanical Society of America (1960), the American Society of Plant
Physiologists (1950), the Society for the Study of Development and Growth (1955), the
Society of General Physiologists (1949-1950), the American Society of Naturalists (1955),
and the XIth International Botanical Congress (1969). He was elected to the American Academy
of Arts and Sciences in 1938, the U.S. National Academy of Sciences in 1948, the American
Philosophical Society in 1959, as well as several international academies. He was awarded
the Balzan Prize in 1982. He died in 1997 in Haverford, Pennsylvania.
For more biographical information see the oral history,
Kenneth V. Thimann: Early
UCSC History and the Founding of Crown College
, available in UCSC Library Search
and eScholarship.
Scope and Content of collection
This collection documents the career of Kenneth V. Thimann, particularly his extensive
publishing activity and professional involvement in the scientific community. The largest
portion of the collection comprises alphabetical subject files that reflect his activity
within national and international scientific organizations during the 1950s-1970s, such as
the National Academy of Sciences. Materials in the collection also document Thimann's
editorial work for a number of journals, his laboratory research at the California Institute
of Technology, Harvard University, and the University of California Santa Cruz, as well as
his role as provost of Crown College at UCSC. A small amount of personal and biographical
material is also included.
Processing Information
Unless otherwise noted, materials are arranged in original order. Most folder titles are
copied from the original folder label.
Related Archival Materials
Harvard University Archives also maintains a collection of Thimann's papers, Papers of
Kenneth V. Thimann, 1929-1988.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Plant physiology
Botanists -- United States --
Archives
Faculty papers
Thimann, Kenneth Vivian,
1904-1997