Noble, Mary (1911–2002)

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Noble, Mary (1911–2002)

Scottish plant pathologist. Born Feb 23,1911, in Leith, Scotland; died July 2002; dau. of a pharmacist; University of Edinburgh, BS, 1933, PhD, 1935.

Plant pathology expert who researched potato wart disease, helping eliminate it from Scotland, studied seed pathology, the mycology of Scotland from 1970 and flax field diseases in western Scotland; studied the papers of the Perthshire naturalist Charles McIntosh and made an amazing find of letters written by Beatrix Potter to McIntosh about fungi, mosses and lichens; worked to publicize Potter's knowledge and research; employed at the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries for Scotland in East Craigs (1935–71); wrote (with E. Jay and A. S. Hobbs) A Victorian Naturalist (1992). Received the Benefactors' Medal of the British Mycological Association.