Matthieu Tillet (1714 - 1791)
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Biography
Sources
Selected publications
Biography
Tillet worked as the director of the Bureau of Coinage for the state of Troyes, in France. Amidst his duties, he found time to research and publish his major work (below), which one a government prize offered for addressing the problem of smutting of grain. As a result of this, he was appointed to several more government positions, relating to Science and Agriculture.
He was immortalized for his work by having Tilletia, a kind of smut, named after him.
Sources
Heinrich Dörfelt & Heike Heklau (1998) Die Geschichte der Mykologie
(Die Geschichte der Mykologie)
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Selected Publications
Matthieu Tillet (1755) Dissertation sur la cause qui corrompt et noircit les grains de bled dans les èpis; et sur le moyens de prevenir ces accidens (Dissertation on the cause of the corruption and blackening of the seeds of grain in the ear; and on the means of preventing such events)One of the first major works on phytopathology. Tillet advocated soaking the seed in a chemical mixture before planting, thus effectively sterilizing the seed-coat. A German edition of this work was issued in 1757
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