Richmond Jay Bartlett

Richmond Bartlett was born in 1927 in Columbus, Ohio.  His mother, Cecil Richmond Bartlett was a writer and journalist; his father, Claude Jay Bartlett, was a lawyer. Upon the death of his father at age 50 in 1941, when Rich was 14 and his brother, Jack, was 10, their widowed mother moved the family out of the city to a farm she and Claude had purchased as an investment. They raised cows, pigs, and a variety of crops. He interrupted his university education toward the end of World War II to volunteer for the Army. He spent a year in Japan in the Army of Occupation as a surgical technician and medic.

With his tour of duty in Japan and his university degree completed, he spent several years as a newspaper reporter and technical writer. In 1952 he married Martha Harry of Fort Wayne, Indiana. Bartlett returned to Ohio State to begin his studies in soil chemistry with Professor E.O. McLean.{{Cite journal|last1=Bartlett|first1=R.J.|last2=McLean|first2=E.O.|date=1959|title=Effect of Potassium and Calcium Activities in Clay Suspensions and Solutions on Plant Uptake|journal=Soil Science Society of America Journal|volume=23|issue=4|pages=285–289|doi=10.2136/sssaj1959.03615995002300040017x|bibcode=1959SSASJ..23..285B}} His graduate education with McLean introduced him to emerging ideas surrounding soil pH, acidity, and aluminum in soils as they influence plant growth, and these concepts shaped his later research on soil testing, oxidation-reduction processes, and how soil chemistry is linked to natural waters, agriculture, and environmental quality.{{Cite book|last=McLean|first=E.O.|title=Methods of Soil Analysis, part 2, Chemical and Microbiological Properties|publisher=American Society of Agronomy|year=1965|isbn=9780891183747|editor-last=Norman|editor-first=A.G.|series=no. 9|location=Madison, Wisconsin|pages=978–998|chapter=Aluminum}}{{Cite book|last=Russell|first=E.W.|title=Soil Conditions and Plant Growth|publisher=Longman|year=1973|isbn=0582440483|location=London|pages=121–128}}{{Cite book|last1=Stumm|first1=Werner|title=Aquatic Chemistry: Chemical Equilibria and Rates in Natural Waters|last2=Morgan|first2=James J.|publisher=John Wiley & Sons|year=1996|isbn=0471511846|location=New York|pages=425–515}}

Upon the completion of his PhD in 1958, Bartlett became an assistant professor in the Department of Agronomy (later Plant and Soil Science) at the University of Vermont. He was promoted to full professor in 1967. His research was in the laboratory and the field, working with his graduate students. During his four-decade career at the University of Vermont, he received numerous awards, including Fellow of three prestigious professional societies: the American Society of Agronomy, the Soil Science Society of America, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He was named University Scholar by the University of Vermont in 1983–84, an honor bestowed on only a few distinguished professors.

He carried on with research and writing in his post-retirement years, often synthesizing and refining concepts related to his earlier discoveries in soil chemistry.{{Cite journal|last1=Zhang|first1=Hong|last2=Bartlett|first2=Richmond J.|date=1999|title=Light-Induced Oxidation of Aqueous Chromium(III) in the Presence of Iron(III)|journal=Environmental Science and Technology|volume=33|issue=4|pages=588–594|doi=10.1021/es980608w|bibcode=1999EnST...33..588Z|s2cid=95297345 }}{{Cite journal|last1=Ross|first1=Donald S.|last2=Bartlett|first2=Richmond J.|date=1997|title=Charge fingerprints of forest organic horizons from north-eastern USA|journal=Australian Journal of Soil Research|volume=35|issue=3|pages=553–564|doi=10.1071/S96078}}{{Cite journal|last1=Ross|first1=Donald S.|last2=Bartlett|first2=Richmond J.|last3=Zhang|first3=Hong|date=2001|title=Photochemically induced formation of the "Al13" tridecameric polycation in the presence of Fe(III) and organic acids|journal=Chemosphere|volume=44|issue=4|pages=827–832|doi=10.1016/S0045-6535(00)00341-6|pmid=11482675|bibcode=2001Chmsp..44..827R}} He died after a long illness in 2005. Following his death, a memorial bench was placed on the University of Vermont campus with a quote from Walt Whitman's Song of Myself.{{Cite web|last=Whitman|first=Walt|date=1892|title=Song of Myself|url=https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/45477/song-of-myself-1892-version|access-date=2 April 2021|website=Poetry Foundation}}

I bequeathe myself to the dirt, to grow from the grass I love;

If you want me again, look for me under your boot-soles.

Bartlett is best known for research and publications on manganese (Mn),{{Cite book|last=Bartlett|first=R.J.|title=Manganese in Soils and Plants|publisher=Kluwer Academic Publ.|year=1988|isbn=978-94-010-7768-2|editor-last=Graham|editor-first=R.D.|location=Dordrecht, Netherlands|pages=59–73|chapter=Manganese redox reactions and organic interactions in soils|doi=10.1007/978-94-009-2817-6|s2cid=32841814|editor-last2=Hannam|editor-first2=R.J.|editor-last3=Uren|editor-first3=N.C.}} chromium (Cr),{{Cite book|last1=Bartlett|first1=R.J.|title=Chromium in Natural and Human Environments|last2=James|first2=B.R.|publisher=John Wiley & Sons|year=1988|isbn=0-471-85643-6|editor-last=Nriagu|editor-first=Jerome O.|location=New York|pages=267–304|chapter=Mobility and bioavailability of chromium in soils|editor-last2=Nieboer|editor-first2=Evert}} and fundamental oxidation-reduction (redox) chemistry in soils.{{Cite book|last1=James|first1=B.R.|title=Handbook of Soil Science|last2=Bartlett|first2=R.J.|publisher=Taylor & Francis|year=2000|isbn=9780849331367|editor-last=Sumner|editor-first=M.E.|location=Oxfordshire, UK|pages=B169- B194|chapter=Redox phenomena}}  He was also responsible for the refined character of the Vermont Soil Test using measures of exchangeable aluminum (Al) to predict amounts of lime needed to raise soil pH to desired levels for crop production.{{Cite journal|last=Bartlett|first=R.J.|date=1982|title=Reactive aluminum in the Vermont Soil Test|journal=Communications in Soil Science and Plant Analysis|volume=13|issue=7|pages=497–506|doi=10.1080/00103628209367289|bibcode=1982CSSPA..13..497B }} This modification of the Vermont Soil Test exemplifies how Bartlett used fundamental soil chemical knowledge of Al and soil pH{{Cite book|last=Russell|first=E. Walter|title=Soil Conditions and Plant Growth|publisher=Longman|year=1976|isbn=0-582-44048-3|edition=10th|location=London|pages=115–128}} in a practical application to agriculture.

One of his aphorisms was “We all should fall upon our knees and sing out praise for manganese.” {{Cite web|last=Small|first=Philip|title=Biochar as a redox dance floor for Mn|url=https://www.scienceforums.com/topic/17288-biochar-as-a-redox-dance-floor-for-mn/|access-date=2 April 2021|website=Science Forums}} His passion for Mn developed from research with his graduate students that showed its redox reactions were cycles.{{Cite journal|last1=Ross|first1=D.S.|last2=Bartlett|first2=R.J.|date=1981|title=Evidence for nonmicrobial oxidation of manganese in soil|journal=Soil Science|volume=132|issue=2|pages=153–160|doi=10.1097/00010694-198108000-00005|bibcode=1981SoilS.132..153R|s2cid=95070920}}{{Cite journal|last1=Bartlett|first1=R.J.|last2=James|first2=B.R.|date=1979|title=Behavior of chromium in soils: III. Oxidation|journal=Journal of Environmental Quality|volume=8|issue=1 |pages=31–35|doi=10.2134/jeq1979.00472425000800010008x|bibcode=1979JEnvQ...8...31B }}{{Cite book|last=Bartlett|first=R.J.|title=Chemistry in the Soil Environment|publisher=American Society of Agronomy|year=1981|editor-last=Ryan|editor-first=J.A.|location=Madison, Wisconsin|chapter=Oxidation-reduction status of aerobic soils|series=ASA Special Publications|pages=77–102|doi=10.2134/asaspecpub40.c5|isbn=9780891183068|editor-last2=Volk|editor-first2=V.V.|editor-last3=Baker|editor-first3=D.E.}} and that a Mn cycle could oxidize, non-toxic, relatively insoluble Cr(III) to the toxic, soluble Cr(VI).  Coupled to the Cr(III) oxidation reaction by Mn(III,IV) (hydr)oxides is the reduction of Cr(VI) to Cr(III) by electron-rich forms of organic matter, iron [Fe(II)], and sulfur (e.g., sulfide, H₂S). Bartlett's new thinking and research results on the soil chemistry of Mn significantly refined our understanding of the thermodynamics and reactions of this metal, and his ideas were cited and widely influential in diverse fields of environmental geochemistry, clay mineralogy, soil and water chemistry, and environmental science.{{Cite book|last=Essington|first=Michael E.|title=Soil and Water Chemistry: An Integrative Approach|publisher=CRC press|year=2004|isbn=0-8493-1258-2|location=Boca Raton, Florida|pages=445–472|chapter=Oxidation-reduction reactions in soils}}{{Cite book|last1=Dixon|first1=Joe B.|title=Soil Mineralogy with Environmental Applications|last2=White|first2=Norman|publisher=Soil Science Society of America|year=2002|editor-last=Dixon|editor-first=Joe B.|location=Madison, Wisconsin|pages=367–388|chapter=Manganese oxides|lccn=2002100258|editor-last2=Schulze|editor-first2=Darrell G.}}{{Cite book|last1=James|first1=Bruce R.|title=Handbook of Soil Sciences: Properties and Processes|last2=Brose|first2=Dominic A.|publisher=CRC Press|year=2012|isbn=978-1-4398-0305-9|editor-last=Huang|editor-first=Pan M.|edition=2nd|location=Boca Raton, Florida|pages=14-1 -- 14-24|chapter=Oxidation-reduction phenomena|editor-last2=Li|editor-first2=Yuncong|editor-last3=Sumner|editor-first3=Malcolm E.}}

In the late 1970s while investigating the redox reactions of Cr in soils, Bartlett and his students discovered that this Mn cycle and its links to the Cr cycle were much more active in field-moist soils than in the air-dried, stored soil materials that were routinely studied in soil chemistry laboratories around the world.{{Cite journal|last1=Bartlett|first1=R.J.|last2=James|first2=B.R.|date=1981|title=Studying air-dried, stored soil samples -- some pitfalls|journal=Soil Science Society of America Journal|volume=44|issue=4|pages=721–724|doi=10.2136/sssaj1980.03615995004400040011x}} When he and Bruce James submitted their findings on the redox implications of air-drying soils—dubbed the “soil-dirt hypothesis” to distinguish field-moist from air-dry material used in laboratory research—they received intensely negative reviews. The published paper led to more attention being paid to the myriad soil chemical changes that result from air-drying and rewetting soils in the field and for laboratory research.{{Cite web|last=Grassi|first=Matthew J.|date=2012|title=Field-Moist Soil Testing Makes A Comeback|url=https://www.croplife.com/crop-inputs/fertilizer/field-moist-soil-testing-makes-a-comeback/|access-date=5 April 2021|website=CropLife}}{{Cite journal|last1=Kaiser|first1=Michael|last2=Kleber|first2=Markus|last3=Berhe|first3=Asmeret A.|date=2015|title=How air-drying and rewetting modify soil organic matter characteristics: An assessment to improve data interpretation and inference|journal=Soil Biology and Biochemistry|volume=80|pages=324–340|doi=10.1016/j.soilbio.2014.10.018|bibcode=2015SBiBi..80..324K }}{{Cite journal|last1=Peltovuori|first1=T.|last2=Soinne|first2=H.|date=2005|title=Phosphorus solubility and sorption in frozen, air-dried and field-moist soil|journal=European Journal of Soil Science|volume=56|issue=6 |pages=821–826|doi=10.1111/j.1365-2389.2005.00726.x|bibcode=2005EuJSS..56..821P |s2cid=96965136 }}{{Cite journal|last1=Jones|first1=Andrew J.|last2=Gupta|first2=Vadakattu V.S.R.|last3=Buckley|first3=Scott|last4=Brackin|first4=Richard|last5=Schmidt|first5=Suzanne|last6=Dalal|first6=Ram C.|date=2019|title=Drying and rewetting effects on organic matter mineralisation of contrasting soils after 36 years of storage|journal=Geoderma|volume=342|pages=12–19|doi=10.1016/j.geoderma.2019.01.053|bibcode=2019Geode.342...12J |s2cid=134311446}} These publications on air-drying soils and those on electron transfer reactions illustrate how Bartlett as a quiet scientist working in the field and his laboratory had significant effects on future research by in soil chemistry and related fields based on oxidation-reduction processes in soils and natural waters.

{{reflist}}

{{improve categories|date=July 2021}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bartlett, Richmond}}

Category:1927 births

Category:2005 deaths