Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/William Lawrence Balls


 * The following discussion is an archived debate of the proposed deletion of the article below. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review).  No further edits should be made to this page.  

The result was Speedy Keep per the additional research discussed below, which the nominator appears to have accepted. Newyorkbrad 12:29, 23 September 2007 (UTC)

William Lawrence Balls

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Unreferenced, and maybe I'm doing things wrong, but I can't seem to reference this article about a cotton scientist. Notability and verifiability is in question. ArglebargleIV 04:52, 23 September 2007 (UTC)
 * Delete not notable a Google search for "William Lawrence Balls" return 6 hits. -Icewedge 04:56, 23 September 2007 (UTC)


 * Delete, most likely a joke. м info 05:06, 23 September 2007 (UTC)
 * Delete. Unencyclopedic. Keb25 05:09, 23 September 2007 (UTC)
 * Weak keep. Unencyclopedic tone, but not a joke article in the least. A search on "W. L. Balls" (scientists were more commonly known by their initials in that era) yields numerous results in scientific journals in multiple languages, and he seems to have been an early researcher to recognize the value of traditional methods per se and attempt to explain them scientifically. --Dhartung | Talk 05:20, 23 September 2007 (UTC)


 * Keep Someone who was awarded a CMG and a CBE, who is a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS), who has a 17 page biography in the Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society, who has his portrait in the National Portrait Gallery, London, who has written large number of papers and whose papers are recorded in the UK National Archives, has to be notable! Horrible article though, which is badly in need of a clean-up. I may have a look at this over the next couple of days. --Malcolmxl5 05:27, 23 September 2007 (UTC)


 * Keep. I have to admit, I was skeptical of the "cotton/Balls" connection, but if this is a hoax, it's an amazingly detailed one that has taken in the Janus Library at Cambridge, among others (see, for instance).  The scientific papers listed in the article check out with the list of Cambridge's holdings, and there's even a photo of him in the (British) National Portrait Gallery .  .  There's a monograph in JSTOR, and you can read the first page at .  And, as per Dhartung above (thanks) if you search under W. L. Balls you find numerous results.  The article could use a little Wikifying and cleanup, but if it's a hoax, it's taken me in too. Accounting4Taste 05:28, 23 September 2007 (UTC)
 * Hmm, seems like my research was quite bad. Back to the drawing board...thanks. -- ArglebargleIV 05:30, 23 September 2007 (UTC)
 * The answer on the name is that his grandfather was a Dutchman named Bols, same as the distiller Bols (brand). --Dhartung | Talk 09:54, 23 September 2007 (UTC)


 * Note: This debate has been included in the list of Academics and educators-related deletions.   —David Eppstein 06:43, 23 September 2007 (UTC)


 * Comment A monograph published by Cotton Incorporated, the US trade group, outlines the importance of Balls's research. Here he's denoted as "W. Lawrence Balls", which yields the best crop of google results of all variants. --Dhartung | Talk 09:58, 23 September 2007 (UTC)


 * Comment There is also an obituary in Nature 187, 989 - 990 (17 Sep 1960). Unfortunately, I can't get to it (it's a subscription service). --Malcolmxl5 11:20, 23 September 2007 (UTC)


 * Keep as per Malcolmxl5's research. J Milburn 11:47, 23 September 2007 (UTC)


 * The above discussion is preserved as an archive of the debate. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review). No further edits should be made to this page.