Cyril Harold Goulden

Goulden, Cyril Harold

Cyril Harold Goulden, geneticist (b at Bridgend, Wales 2 June 1897; d at Ottawa 4 Feb 1981). Son of a homesteader, Goulden took the course for farmers at U of Sask and went on to a PhD in plant breeding before becoming chief cereal breeder at the Dominion Rust Research Laboratory, Winnipeg, in 1925 (see J.H. CRAIGIE). He succeeded L.H. NEWMAN as Dominion cerealist in 1948 and later became assistant deputy minister for research in the Dept of Agriculture. Contrary to early genetic theory, wheat resistance to rust diseases was controlled not by a single gene but by the interaction of several - which made both plant genetics and its application to farming much more difficult. A natural mathematician, Goulden took up the new specialty of biostatistics (and wrote the first N American textbook on the subject in 1937 for the students he taught at U of Man). As head of cereal breeding at Winnipeg for 23 years, Goulden was responsible for the creation of Renown, Regent and Redman wheats, suitable for the Canadian climate and possessing various rust-resistant qualities. He also developed 6 varieties of rust-resistant oats.