Alice Withrow

Withrow was born on September 5, {{date|1907|MDY}} in Louisville, Kentucky to Roscoe M. and Ollie (Snawder) Phillips.{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Aag-AQAAIAAJ |title=Who's Who of American Women and Women of Canada |date=1968 |publisher=A.N. Marquis Company |page=1336 |language=en}}{{cite web |title=Alice Victoria Phillips, 1907 |url=https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:FWJP-FBT |url-access=registration |access-date=2023-03-11 |work=Kentucky Births and Christenings, 1839–1960 |publisher=FamilySearch.org |archive-date=2023-03-12 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230312050823/https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:FWJP-FBT |url-status=live }} She attended Butler University (B.A. degree, botany, 1929) and University of Cincinnati (M.A. degree, 1931), where her master's thesis "Life forms and leaf size classes of certain plant communities of the Cincinnati region" was overseen by Emma Lucy Braun{{Cite journal |last=Stuckey |first=Ronald L. |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/57520289#page/530/mode/1up |journal=Michigan Botanist |date=1971 |title=E. Lucy Braun (1889–1971): Outstanding Botanist and Conservationist, a Biographical Sketch with Bibliography |publisher=Michigan Botanical Club |volume=12 |location=Ann Arbor |page=96 |via=Biodiversity Heritage Library |access-date=2023-03-12 |archive-date=2023-03-12 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230312071001/https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/57520289#page/530/mode/1up |url-status=live }} and published 1932 in the journal Ecology.{{Cite journal |last=Withrow |first=Alice Phillips |date=January 1932 |title=Life Forms and Leaf Size Classes of Certain Plant Communities of the Cincinnati Region |url=http://doi.wiley.com/10.2307/1932488 |journal=Ecology |language=en |volume=13 |issue=1 |pages=12–35 |doi=10.2307/1932488 |jstor=1932488 |access-date=2023-03-12 |archive-date=2023-04-24 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230424163953/https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.2307/1932488 |url-status=live |url-access=subscription }} In 1931, she married Robert Bruce Withrow. Their honeymoon trip was the journey to Purdue University where they both had new jobs{{Cite news |date=1953-09-08 |title=Scientists Combine Homelife and Career |language=en |page=6 |newspaper=Wichita Falls Record News |agency=Associated Press Women's News |location=Wichita Falls, Texas |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/775043952/?clipping_id=120647941 |url-access=limited |access-date=2023-03-11 |via=Newspapers.com |archive-date=2023-03-12 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230312053929/https://www.newspapers.com/image/775043952/?clipping_id=120647941 |url-status=live }} and she later completed her Ph.D.{{Cite web |date=1966 |title=Graduate Degrees Awarded 1897–1966 in Botany and Plant Pathology |url=https://earchives.lib.purdue.edu/digital/collection/ua9/id/59 |publisher=Purdue University Herbarium |via=Purdue University Libraries and School of Information Studies E-Archives |access-date=2023-01-10 |archive-date=2022-11-15 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221115022954/https://earchives.lib.purdue.edu/digital/collection/ua9/id/59/ |url-status=live }}{{Cite thesis |last=Withrow |first=Alice Phillips |date=June 1941 |title=The Responses of Certain Long and Short Day Plants to Intensity and Wavelength of Radiation and Nitrogen Nutrition |url=https://docs.lib.purdue.edu/dissertations/AAI27708504 |publisher=Purdue University |id={{ProQuest|27708504}} |degree=Ph.D. |access-date=2023-03-12 |archive-date=2023-03-12 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230312055156/https://docs.lib.purdue.edu/dissertations/AAI27708504/ |url-status=live }}

During World War II Withrow and her husband were consulting scientists for the U.S. Air Force on the problem of growing plants without soil, in part so that the military could "grow perishable vegetables on sandy bases in the Pacific." In May 1945 Withrow was preparing hydroponics kits for shipment to Canton Island, Espiritu and Ascension Island, with later installations planned for Port Moresby and Karachi.{{Cite news |date=1945-05-24 |title=Air Corps to Grow Salads in Water |language=en |page=6 |newspaper=The Journal Times |location=Racine, Wisconsin |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/334495842/?terms=%22Alice%20P.%20Withrow%22&match=1&clipping_id=120663767 |url-access=limited |access-date=2023-03-11 |via=Newspapers.com |archive-date=2023-03-12 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230312051442/https://www.newspapers.com/image/334495842/?terms=%22Alice%20P.%20Withrow%22&match=1&clipping_id=120663767 |url-status=live }} A 2006 timeline of the history of hydroponic growing credited Withrow and her husband with introducing "inert gravel" as a growing medium, and noted that in 1945 the Air Force constructed a hydroponic farm on Wake Island that produced tomatoes, string beans, sweet corn and lettuce.{{Cite news |date=2006-03-17 |title=Hydroponic Greenhouse |language=en |page=70 |newspaper=Courier-Post |department=Brainstorm |location=Camden, N.J. |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/183793511/?terms=%22Alice%20P.%20Withrow%22&match=1&clipping_id=120665610 |url-access=limited |access-date=2023-03-11 |via=Newspapers.com |archive-date=2023-03-12 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230312053532/https://www.newspapers.com/image/183793511/?terms=%22Alice%20P.%20Withrow%22&match=1&clipping_id=120665610 |url-status=live }} In late 1945 she lectured in Chicago on "soil-less culture and the effect of various spectrum colors on the growth rate of plants."{{Cite news |title=Gardeners Get Tips on How to Grow Plants Without Sun or Soil |newspaper=Chicago Tribune |date=1945-11-29 |page=12 |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/370887683/ |access-date=2023-03-12 |via=Newspapers.com |language=en |archive-date=2023-03-12 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230312064115/https://www.newspapers.com/image/370887683/ |url-status=live }} After the war, the Withrows published a paper comparing the use of mercury, incandescent and the new fluorescent lamps for growing plants.{{Cite book |last=Sage |first=Linda C. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fUhihgURCjsC&pg=PA64 |title=Pigment of the Imagination: A History of Phytochrome Research |date=2012-12-02 |publisher=Elsevier |isbn=978-0-323-13854-3 |pages=61–66 |language=en |access-date=2023-03-11 |archive-date=2023-03-12 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230312053532/https://books.google.com/books?id=fUhihgURCjsC&pg=PA64 |url-status=live }} The Withrows' research was featured in the science magazine Popular Mechanics in October 1946.{{cite magazine |last=Kinsey |first=John R. |date=October 1946 |title=Throwing Light on Mother Nature |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IuEDAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA126 |magazine=Popular Mechanics |publisher=Hearst Magazines |volume=86 |issue=4 |pages=126–128 |issn=0032-4558 |access-date=2023-03-12 |archive-date=2023-03-12 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230312001851/https://books.google.com/books?id=IuEDAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA126 |url-status=live }}

In 1948 the Withrows relocated to the Smithsonian. In 1956 they co-authored a book chapter on "Generation, control, and measurement of visible and near-visible radiant energy" that was considered an "excellent and thorough review of the problems concerned with lighting."{{Cite book |last=Salisbury |first=Frank B. |url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=nnc1.cu50113828&view=1up&seq=118&q1=Withrow |title=The Flowering Process |series=International series of monographs on pure and applied biology. Division, Plant physiology ;v. 4 |publisher=Macmillan |year=1963 |location=New York |page=82 |doi=10.5962/bhl.title.6229 |lccn=63019739 |oclc=647086017 |ol=5887079M |via=HathiTrust |doi-access=free |ol-access=free |access-date=2023-03-12 |archive-date=2023-03-12 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230312080410/https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=nnc1.cu50113828&view=1up&seq=118&q1=Withrow |url-status=live }}

Withrow wrote the preface to a posthumously published book edited by her husband, Photoperiodism and related phenomena in plants and animals.{{Cite book |url=http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/bibliography/6282 |title=Photoperiodism and related phenomena in plants and animals; proceedings |date=1959 |publisher=American Association for the Advancement of Science |others=Conference on Photoperiodism |editor-last=Withrow |editor-first=Robert B. |series= |location=Washington, D.C. |pages=v–vi |language=en |doi=10.5962/bhl.title.6282 |lccn=59010144 |oclc=665164 |ol=5887079M |id=Publication No. 55 |via=HathiTrust |doi-access=free |ol-access=free |access-date=2023-03-12 |archive-date=2023-03-12 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230312071941/https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/bibliography/6282 |url-status=live }} In the 1960s and 1970s, Withrow led the educational materials and instruction development division of the U.S. National Science Foundation.{{cite news| title=Ten to Give Science Talk | newspaper=Ithaca Cornell Daily Sun | date=1961-05-17 | page=6}}{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Lxt5PLo-LBwC&pg=PA106 |title=RANN 2: Realizing Knowledge as a Resource : Proceedings of the Second Symposium on Research Applied to National Needs, Washington Hilton, Washington, D.C., November 7–9, 1976 |date=1977 |publisher=National Science Foundation |language=en |access-date=2023-03-12 |archive-date=2023-03-12 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230312053533/https://books.google.com/books?id=Lxt5PLo-LBwC&pg=PA106 |url-status=live }}

Withrow had one child, Anne V. Withrow-Dalager (1934–1996).{{Cite news |date=1958-04-09 |title=Dr. Robert B. Withrow, 54, Noted Expert on Plant Life |language=en |page=40 |newspaper=Evening Star |department=Obituaries |location=Washington, D.C. |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/869784007/?terms=%22Alice%20Withrow%22%20botanist&match=1&article=7c5faace-1606-44ff-86da-eec41444764a |url-access=limited |access-date=2023-03-11 |via=Newspapers.com |archive-date=2023-03-12 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230312053535/https://www.newspapers.com/image/869784007/?terms=%22Alice%20Withrow%22%20botanist&match=1&article=7c5faace-1606-44ff-86da-eec41444764a |url-status=live }}{{cite news |date=1996-11-20 |title=ANNE WITHROW-DALAGER Real Estate Agent |pages=B4 |newspaper=The Washington Post |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/local/1996/11/20/daniel-snyder-dies-at-age-55/cd89ef52-edf0-475d-b9ee-9a75fab1e90c/ |url-access=subscription |access-date=2023-03-11 |id={{ProQuest|307954978}} |archive-date=2017-08-28 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170828212526/https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/local/1996/11/20/daniel-snyder-dies-at-age-55/cd89ef52-edf0-475d-b9ee-9a75fab1e90c/ |url-status=live }} Withrow died on April 29, 1998, in Montgomery County, Maryland.{{cite web | work=United States Social Security Death Index database, citing U.S. Social Security Administration, Death Master File | publisher=FamilySearch.org | url=https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:JB7P-NZ6 | title=Alice P Withrow, 28 Apr 1998 | access-date=2023-03-12 | archive-date=2023-03-12 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230312053533/https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:JB7P-NZ6 | url-status=live }}

• {{Cite journal |last=Withrow |first=Alice |date=1945-04-01 |title=Interrelationship of nitrogen and photo-period on the flowering, growth, and stem anatomy of certain long day and short day plants |url=https://digitalcommons.butler.edu/botanical/vol7/iss1/5 |journal=Butler University Botanical Studies |type=PDF |volume=7 |issue=1}}
• {{Cite journal |last1=Withrow |first1=Alice P. |last2=Withrow |first2=Robert B. |date=1947-10-01 |title=Plant Growth with Artificial Sources of Radiant Energy |journal=Plant Physiology |language=en |volume=22 |issue=4 |pages=494–513 |doi=10.1104/pp.22.4.494 |issn=0032-0889 |pmc=405889 |pmid=16654118}}
• {{cite journal |title=Translocation of the Floral Stimulus in Xanthium |url=https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1086/335150?journalCode=botanicalgazette |last1=Withrow |first1=Alice P. |last2=Withrow |first2=R.B. |journal=Botanical Gazette |year=1943 |volume=104 |issue=3 |pages=409–416 |doi=10.1086/335150 |jstor=2471979 |url-access=subscription |s2cid=84018891}}
• {{Cite journal |last1=Withrow |first1=Alice P. |last2=Withrow |first2=Robert B. |date=October 1949 |title=Photoperiodic Chlorosis in Tomato |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1104/pp.24.4.657 |journal=Plant Physiology |volume=24 |issue=4 |pages=657–663 |doi=10.1104/pp.24.4.657 | jstor=4258250 |issn=0032-0889 |pmc=437415 |pmid=16654255}}
• {{cite report |last1=Withrow |first1=R.B. |last2=Withrow |url=https://earchives.lib.purdue.edu/digital/collection/AESCircular/id/8915/rec/1 |title=Extension Circular: Nutriculture |location=Indiana |first2=Alice P. |date=1948 |publisher=Purdue University Agricultural Experiment Station |issue=328 | via=Purdue University Libraries and School of Information Studies E-Archives }}
• {{cite book |last1=Withrow |year=1956 |editor-last=Hollaender |editor-first=A. |first1=R.B. |chapter=Generation, control, and measurement of visible and near-visible radiant energy |title=Radiation Biology |volume=III: Visible and Near-Visible Light |pages=125–258 |publisher=McGraw Hill |last2=Withrow |first2=A.P. |location=New York |chapter-url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/5562799#page/139/mode/1up |doi=10.5962/bhl.title.6279 |lccn=53006042 |oclc=594754626 |ol=6133378M |via=Biodiversity Heritage Library |doi-access=free |ol-access=free}}

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{{commons category|Alice P. Withrow}}

• {{Find a Grave | 183570691 | Alice Phillips Withrow }}

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Category:1907 births

Category:1998 deaths

Category:Scientists from Louisville, Kentucky

Category:American women botanists

Category:People from Maryland

Category:20th-century American botanists

Category:20th-century American women scientists

Category:Butler University alumni

Category:University of Cincinnati alumni