Noel Farnie Robertson (1923–1999) was a Scottish botanist and agriculturist who was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (FRSE). Biography Early life Robertson was born on Christmas Eve, 24 December 1923, in Dundalk, Ireland. His parents, James Robertson and Catherine Landles Brown were of Scottish Presbyterian background and returned to Scotland while Noel was still young. They lived in north Edinburgh and Noel attended Trinity Academy. He then studied Botany at Edinburgh University which at the time was partially taught in Inverleith at the Royal Botanical Gardens. During his studies Robertson developed interests in plant pathology and fungal taxonomy, most probably inspired by the Reader in Mycology, Malcolm Wilson. He also became interested in botanic gardens and horticulture. Robertson won the Sir David Baxter Scholarship and the Turner Prize and obtained a degree with first class honours in Botany in 1944. Robertson then went to Trinity College, Cambridge as a postgraduate, where he obtained a Diploma in Agricultural science. He later described this time as one of the happiest in his life, as he was able to work on the land, getting his hands dirty, and gained pleasure and fulfilment from hard manual labour. His time at Cambridge concluded with time at the Virus Research Station with Kenneth Smith, at Rothamsted Experimental Station with Frederick Bawden and studying tree viruses on a tour of the US. The University of Edinburgh awarded Robertson their Gunning Victoria Jubilee Prize for his report on tree viruses. Following Cambridge, in 1946 Robertson spent a short time in Ghana working with Peter Posnette at the Cocoa Research Institute at which he studied viral swollen shoot disease in cocoa. Later he wrote this work up as a thesis, Virus diseases of trees in two continents, for which the University of Edinburgh awarded him a PhD. Cambridge Robertson was seen by Frederick Tom Brooks as a rising star. In 1949 Brooks asked Robertson to return to Cambridge to be a Lecturer in Mycology. At Cambridge, Robertson worked with John Rishbeth who was interested in the world of soil and Denis Garrett who was interested in cereal and tree root diseases. With a succession of outstanding students, Robertson did some of his best research. His initial studies were of the Hartig net in ectomycorrhiza associated with trees (Pinus sylvestris). In conjunction with Eric Buxton he later undertook pioneering work, unravelling of a deep understanding of