Lyle Thomas Alexander Papers

Lyle T. (Lyle Thomas) Alexander (1905-1983) worked for USDA for over 40 years as a soil chemist. After graduating from the University of Arkansas with a chemistry degree in 1928, he began working at USDA as a soil scientist in the Soil Conservation Service. He earned a Ph.D. in physical chemistry at the University of Maryland in 1935. During his career with USDA, Alexander specialized in tropical soils. He became an expert in the radioactive fallout content of soils and agriculture. He traveled extensively in Australia, New Zealand, the Pacific islands, the Sahara, Europe, and the Near East. He retired in 1968 as chief of the Soil Survey Laboratories, Soil Conservation Service. After retirement, he worked as a consultant for Resources for the Future, in Washington, D.C. He collaborated with Marion Clawson and Hans Landsberg on the topic of desalination of seawater.

During his career with the USDA, Alexander authored approximately 70 papers in soil science in such publications as the USDA's technical bulletins and yearbooks (1938-1957), and the Proceedings of the Soil Science Society of America. Together with Thomas M. Shaw, he held a patent in the use of dielectric constant measurements to detect ice formations.