Dodge, Bernard Ogilvie

Bernard Ogilvie Dodge, (born April 18, 1872, Mauston, Wis., U.S.—died Aug. 9, 1960, New York, N.Y.), American botanist and pioneer researcher on heredity in fungi.

After completing high school (1892), Dodge taught in district schools and eventually became a high school principal. At the age of 28 he resumed his formal education at the Milwaukee Normal School. He obtained a bachelor’s degree from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, in 1909, where he was much influenced by R.A. Harper, an eminent botanist who was soon to become professor of botany at Columbia University. As a consequence, Dodge moved to New York City and entered Columbia in 1909, receiving his Ph.D. three years later.

In 1920, after eight years as an instructor at Columbia, Dodge accepted an appointment as plant pathologist in the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Washington, D.C. In 1928 he became plant pathologist at the New York Botanical Garden, a position he held until his retirement in 1947. Even after retirement, he continued his research there until shortly before his death.

Because of the long delay in finishing his formal education, Dodge was over 40 when his first paper on mycology was published, his last work appeared when he was 85, and he was already 55 when his major work on the genetics of Neurospora began. In 1920 he had discovered heterothallism in the ascomycetes (sac fungi), first in Ascobolus and then in Neurospora. His early papers demonstrated the excellent potential of Neurospora for genetic research, and later he was able to prove conclusively that this fungus obeys the basic laws of genetics. He worked out excellent techniques for the experimental manipulation of Neurospora, as well as other microorganisms, and his many basic discoveries of new phenomena set the stage for the development of the field of biochemical genetics. At the age of 71, Dodge published jointly with H.W. Rickett the highly influential book, Diseases and Pests of Ornamental Plants.