Albert Pugsley
Albert Tonkin Pugsley AM (11 March 1910 – 6 November 2002) was an Australian agricultural scientist and wheat breeder.
Pugsley was born in Mildura, Victoria and educated at Scotch College, followed by the University of Melbourne, graduating in 1931 with a Bachelor of Agricultural Science degree. He then studied at the University of Adelaide, where he was awarded a Doctor of Science degree in 1954 for his research on disease resistance in plants. He was a plant pathologist at the Victorian Department of Agriculture (1931–1939) and plant geneticist at the University of Adelaide's Waite Agricultural Institute, South Australia (1939–1953).
In 1953, Pugsley was appointed founding Director of the Agricultural Research Institute in Wagga Wagga, New South Wales, serving in that role until 1975.[1]
Pugsley was awarded the William Farrer Medal in 1953 for his services to agriculture, and made a Member of the Order of Australia in 1981. From 1978–1986 he served as an honorary Senior Associate in Plant Sciences at the University of Melbourne, and was a granted an honorary Doctorate of Agricultural Science by the university in 1981.
The wheat variety "Pugsley" was named in his honour.[2]