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Roy Elwood Clausen

botanist (1891-1956)

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General referenceInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionJul 31, 2026
Entity authorityQ21508704
Source-derived summary

Roy Elwood Clausen (August 21, 1891, Randall, Iowa – August 21, 1956, Berkeley, California) was an American biochemist, botanist, plant geneticist, and drosophilist.

Biography

Clausen was the eldest of six siblings. As a boy with his family, he moved from Iowa to Newkirk, Oklahoma, in 1900. In 1910, he graduated with a bachelor of science degree in agriculture from Stillwater's Oklahoma A&M (later renamed Oklahoma State University). In 1910, Clausen matriculated at the University of California, Berkeley. There, Clausen graduated in 1912 with a second bachelor's degree, in agriculture, with a major in plant pathology. He graduated in 1914 with a Ph.D. in biochemistry, with a minor in plant pathology. His thesis advisor was Thorburn Brailsford Robertson. From 1914 until his death in 1956, Clausen was a faculty member at UC Berkeley. During World War I, he was on an eighteen-month leave of absence when he served in the U.S. Army as a supply officer in a depot brigade.

Editorial summary

Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Roy Elwood Clausen” is botanist (1891-1956). The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Elwood, Clausen and botanist, not as a finished interpretation.

Editorial reviewA dependable orientation record for establishing vocabulary, names and a first evidence trail. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1891, 1956, 1900, 1910—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1891-01-01. For this dossier, Elwood, Clausen and botanist is the immediate research focus.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The phrase “botanist (1891-1956)” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.

Evidence profile

Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 31, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q21508704. VIAF identifies the subject as 98904122. 2 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1891, 1956, 1900 and 1910.

Critical limits

Overview language is designed for orientation and should not be treated as a substitute for the evidence cited beneath it. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.

Best used for
  • Subject orientation
  • Search vocabulary
  • Locating named sources
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The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Roy Elwood Clausen”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Roy Elwood Clausen primary sources, Roy Elwood Clausen archive and Elwood research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from Roy Elwood Clausen” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.