Davidson, J. Brownlee (Jay Brownlee), 1880-1957

Agricultural engineer; head of Agricultural Engineering Departments of University of California (1915-1919) and Iowa State College (1905-1915, 1919-1946). Recognized as a pioneer in the development of agricultural engineering as a discipline, Davidson was a rural Nebraska native and a 1904 mechanical engineering graduate of the University of Nebraska. He came to Iowa State in 1905 as an assistant professor in agricultural engineering. The four-year program Davidson prepared for adoption in 1908, was not only the first in the nation, but set the pattern for programs later adopted by nearly all U.S. and Canadian institutions offering degrees in agricultural engineering.

Davidson joined the University of California faculty in 1915, but returned to Iowa State duties in 1919 as head of agricultural engineering. He retired from administrative duties in 1946, and from the faculty in 1956. He was given a number of assignments as a consultant on agricultural mechanization in the U.S., Soviet Union and China, and was internationally honored. He was organizer and first president of the American Society of Agricultural Engineers. The program he administered at Iowa State produced 52 college and university department heads.