Lyell F. Thompson—Agronomist and Humanitarian
Martha Davis*
A
PROFILE of Lyell Thompson
requires a wide-angle lens
to encompass a full view. He has
never been the man dedicated to
a single mission in life. From his
interests in everything from poetry to soil and from his love for
people have come an outstanding teacher, researcher, public
servant, and individual imbued
with ideals of democracy, human
rights, and scientific principles.
“I always thought,” he said, “that
if you get an education at govLyell F. Thompson
ernment expense, you owe society something.” Perhaps no one has ever come closer to paying that debt both in his professional and his personal life than
has Lyell Thompson.
As a researcher, Dr. Thompson devoted a career to realistic goals of improving soil fertility and crop production. He
has recognized that it is often the little things that make a difference, and his work with trace elements has made a difference for agriculture. His studies with molybdenum, boron, and
zinc were instrumental in increasing production on the shallow acidic soils of Arkansas. With the increased acreage of
soybean, Arkansas has come to use more molybdenum fertilizer than any other state. Similarly, he advocated the use of
boron, especially in cotton production, and his work, along
with that of Dr. Bobby Wells and Dr. Gerald Place, has resulted
in widely accepted use of zinc by rice producers. To further
the fertility of Arkansas’ acidic soils in a practical way, Dr.
Thompson has promoted use of “brown mud,” a calcium
byproduct of the state’s aluminum industry, and North Carolina rock phosphate.
Dr. Thompson has always been a teacher both in and outside the classroom. He dedicated his class lectures to the principles of soils, soil fertility, and soil amendments, but he also
brought to his students the political, social, and economic dimensions that are important to the fertility of soils worldwide.
Science for him is never a sterile formula of empirical truths,
but always alive and responsive to human activity. He looks
back at the historic perspective as well as forward to new technology. “We have to look at the whole picture and put ourselves in perspective in the flow of science.” The economic,
the environmental, the social, the individual student —all became important to his classes. In 1983 he received the Gamma
Sigma Delta Outstanding Teacher Award at Arkansas. Many
of his former students attest to the fact that his office is always
open and his mind is always open with a keen understanding
for personal, social, and academic problems and with a willingness to listen and to understand.
Department of Crop, Soil, and Environmental Sciences, Univ. of Arkansas,
Fayetteville, AR 72701. Received 23 June 2000. Corresponding author
([email protected]).
Published in J. Nat. Resour. Life Sci. Educ. 29:102–103 (2000).
http://www.JNRLSE.org
102 • J. Nat. Resour. Life Sci. Educ., Vol. 29, 2000
His cosmopolitan, sophisticated knowledge of the world
from the arts and humanities to industry and farming is
blended with the earthbound roots of a country boy. He seems
to have a magnetic attraction for both international and domestic students. This magnetic field is created by his interest
in global agriculture and his truly nondiscriminatory relationship with people. His human perception cuts through cultural name tags. Oriental, Black, White, minority, majority,
Jew, Moslem, Christian, man, woman, rustic, aristocrat—he
is always sensitive to the problems people have. And he acts
to alleviate those problems. More than once, money from his
own pocket or lodging in his home has rescued with equal concern a domestic or international student, black or white,
woman or man. His humanitarian perception and his capacity to act in the interest of another human being appear infinite.
The need to act as well as to perceive is paramount to the
character of Dr. Thompson. He is the epitome of a good citizen in a democratic society. He has been a campus leader who
links the departments in the college, the college to other colleges of the university, the university to the community and
state, and our department and university to national and international concerns. In addition to serving on numerous departmental, college, and university committees, he has chaired
the university’s Campus Council as well as the Graduate
Council and served as president of the Campus Faculty.
Thompson’s directions are never narrow, and his leadership
radiates off campus as well as on campus. He is an elected representative from his city district on the county governing
body, the Quorum Court. In this capacity he must confront
often unpopular issues such as waste disposal, transportation
development, or taxation. In the state and even nationally he
has become known for his work with human rights, especially
during the turbulent times of the 1950s and 1960s. He was the
first professor at the University of Arkansas to employ a black
student; he housed black students in his home when university housing was still not open to them; he went door to door
to promote opening to blacks the city swimming pool, the
movie theaters, and the restaurants across town. He often
risked his career to support unpopular issues that he believed
in, and his efforts made the way less risky for those he led and
those who have followed his example. For his work he was
appointed to serve on the Arkansas Council on Human Relations and received a federal appointment to the Arkansas Advisory Committee of the U.S. Civil Rights Commission. He
has been recognized for his contributions by the Arkansas Education Association with their “Human Relations Award” as
well as by the Black Students’ Association on the University
of Arkansas campus. He was the first white to receive the Association’s “Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Community Service
Award.”
Certainly, a profile of Lyell Thompson emanates far beyond
the scope of agronomy, but that is not to say he is not an agronomist in the best sense of the word. His broad knowledge of
crop production and the soils disciplines has made him a
repertoire of information for colleagues as well as students.
He is a true professional in research, teaching, and service to
agriculture. No less, he believes in and works for people. He
is the Lyell Thompson who calls his congressperson to help
to straighten out the immigration status of the international student, or who joins a national dialogue to investigate the values in the Sustainable Agriculture Movement before his colleagues see the issue as real, or who serves as membership
chair for the American Society of Agronomy, or who recycled
newspapers and aluminum cans before the rest of us were seeing beyond our wastebaskets.
Dr. Thompson was born in Rock Island, IL, in 1924, and
grew up on a wheat farm in Noble County, Oklahoma. He attended a country school there and went on to Oklahoma State
to major in soils and agronomy. Service in World War II was
sandwiched into his undergraduate education. In the European
theater he earned a purple heart and three battle stars and endeared himself to a German family to such an extent that he
has since revisited them. After the war, he married his childhood sweetheart, Marcella Horn, in 1946, and the two have
five children. He received his doctoral degree from The Ohio
State University where he was appointed part-time extension
agronomist before the completion of that degree and then became an assistant professor teaching beginning soils and in
charge of the Soil Testing Laboratory. Before coming to
Arkansas in 1958, he was soil scientist with the Samuel
Roberts Noble Foundation in Ardmore, OK. He is a member
of several academic honor societies and professional groups,
including the American Society of Agronomy, the Soil Science Society of America, the International Soil Science Society, Sigma Xi, Gamma Sigma Delta, Alpha Zeta, and Phi
Kappa Phi.
His life and his work are an honor to agronomy and to the
human species. In the words of his long-time colleague, Dr.
Bob Frans:
Most of all, he is a human being in the deepest sense that
term can imply. Quite truly, Lyell Thompson is in love with
the human race—he is friend to all, neighbor to the first person he meets every morning, and stranger to none. He is
compassionate, loving, and caring, not only for his fellow
Unitarians, but also for the rest of us Christians, Jews,
Moslems, Blacks, Whites, Orientals, etc., etc., etc.! Does
that make him a good teacher? In my view emphatically,
yes! I have learned much from him, as have all who have
come to know him through the years. Indeed, he is the best
example I know of one to be called: “Teacher,” “Professor,” but above all—“Friend.”
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
I would like to thank Dr. Robert Frans for allowing me to
quote from his letter to the Gamma Sigma Delta committee
who selected Dr. Thompson for its teaching award and to express my appreciation to all the former students and the colleagues who have repeatedly expressed their admiration for
Dr. Thompson.
J. Nat. Resour. Life Sci. Educ., Vol. 29, 2000 • 103