1996 Lecturer | Dr. Willard L. Lindsay
About the Lecturer
The thirteenth annual Roscoe Ellis, Jr. Lecture was presented on 13 March 1996 by Dr. Willard L. Lindsay, University Distinguished Professor, Department of Soil and Crop Sciences, Colorado State University, Fort Collins. Dr. Lindsay received the B.S. degree in 1952 and the M.S. degree in 1953 from Utah State University. He received the Ph.D. degree in Soil Chemistry from Cornell University in 1956.
From 1956 to 1960, Dr. Linday was Research Soil Chemist in the Soils and Fertilizer Research Branch of TVA at Muscle Shoals, AL. He then moved to the faculty at Colorado State University. In 1987, Dr. Lindsay was presented the Alumni Centennial Recognition Award by Utah State University which placed him among Utah State University's 30 most distinguished living alumni. In 1989, Dr. Lindsay was named Colorado State University's ninth University Distinguished Professor. This is the highest academic honor awarded to its faculty and no more than 12 faculty can hold this distinction.
Dr. Lindsay's accomplishments have been widely recognized and his expertise is much sought-after. His work on chelates earned for him the Geigy Travel Award to Scotland in 1966 and to Australia in 1968. He was a Visiting Lecturer at the University of California-Riverside (1966), the Ain Shames University in Egypt (1979), the University of Washington (1987), and Punjab University in India (1988).
He was a Visiting Professor at Agricultural University of the Netherlands (1972) and Iowa State University (1991). On the occasion of Utah State University's Centennial (1987), he was presented the Alumni Centennial Recognition Award which placed him among Utah State University's 30 most distinguished living alumni.
Dr. Lindsay has authored or co-authored over 140 published articles. He co-authored the chapter "Phosphate Minerals" in the book "Minerals in Soil Environments" (1977). Dr. Lindsay's textbook "Chemical Equilibria in Soils" (1979) has been used as a text in graduate soil chemistry courses at several universities and can be found in most research laboratories concerned with soil chemistry and environmental problems.
The companion publication "Selection of Standard Free Energies of Formation in Soil Chemistry", and the supplements which have followed, have helped in the selection of equilibrium constants for use in soil chemistry. Dr. Lindsay has been the major professor to 31 Ph.D. and 12 M.S. graduates in Soil Science. He was named a Fellow in the American Society of Agronomy and the Soil Science Society of America in 1969. In 1980, he received the Soil Science Award by the Soil Science Society of America for creativity in research and teaching.
One of the great accomplishments of Dr. Lindsay and his colleagues was the development of mathematical models for predicting and testing the stability of metal chelates in soils. This work has helped to systematize the approach used in working with metal chelates in soils and hydrophonic solutions. These principles have been useful in explaining the effects of chelation and reduction on metal-ion availability to plants.
The same principles were used in developing the DTPA micronutrient soil test, and for developing the chelation method of measuring the activities of free metal ions in soils. The DTPA micronutrient soil test has become a standard micronutrient soil test for many service laboratories around the world. The paper describing the theoretical basis and the development of this soil-test method has been designated a "Citation Classic" by the Institute of Scientific Information as one of the most frequently-cited works in its field.