An adventure in applied science - IRRI books - International Rice ...

56 History of the International Rice Research Institutetime he still owed it. Ponnamperuma accepted IRRI’s offer and arrangementswere made for him to spend about three months at the University of California,Berkeley, to catch up on the newest techniques in instrumental analysis. Aftercompleting that training, he arrived at IRRI in December 1961.Ponnamperuma turned out to be a prime choice. Through the exhaustivestudies he conducted at IRRI, he became a world-renowned authority on thechemistry of submerged soils. He is still on IRRI's staff and in recent years hasconcentrated on identifying rice varieties and genetic lines that are tolerant ofadverse soil conditions.When IRRI turned to finding a qualified agronomist, Wortman suggestedthat James C. Moomaw of the University of Hawaii be considered. He wasinvited to IRRI for an interview in July 1961. Offered the position, he acceptedit and arrived with his family in November 1961.Moomaw had never grown a crop of rice but he was a well-trainedagronomist, having received his MS degree in soil science from the Universityof Idaho and his Ph D in plant ecology from Washington State College. InHawaii he was working on forage crop management, particularly in the areaof soil fertility.Moomaw soon learned about rice management by working with the cropand by visiting other soil scientists and agronomists in Asia. He developed afirst-class research program investigating continuous cropping, fertilizer response,water management, and weed control. As IRRI’s early annual reportswill verify, he was the first scientist at the Institute to work with multiplecropping.Moomaw was asked by IRRI to be its resident scientist in Sri Lanka from1967 to 1969. After a successful experience there, he spent a one-year studyleave at the University of California, Davis. While he was there, the InternationalInstitute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) in Nigeria, which was justgetting started, became interested in obtaining him as its agronomist to initiatea rice research program. The Rockefeller Foundation agreed to his transfer andMoomaw joined IITA in 1970. After launching its rice research program, hewas made leader of the farming systems program and in 1973 became directorof outreach activities. Moomaw left IITA in 1975 to become the second directorof the Asian Vegetable Research and Development Center in Taiwan. He heldthat post until 1979, when he returned to the U.S. to become program officerfor Southeast Asia for the International Agricultural Development Service(IADS) in New York. In February 1982, he became executive director of theNear East Foundation, with headquarters in New York City.By 1963, Moomaw had asked IRRI to hire an associate agronomist toconduct the soil fertility work of the department. He suggested that theInstitute consider Surajit K. De Datta, an Indian scientist who had obtained hisPh D at the University of Hawaii under Moomaw and who was then on apostdoctoral appointment at Ohio State University.The new position was approved; De Datta was interviewed, hired, andarrived on the job in January 1964. Although his thesis had involved somerather basic problems of soil phosphorus, he soon became enthusiastic about