Willie Commelin Scholten Phytopathology Laboratory

The Willie Commelin Scholten Phytopathological Laboratory now known as the WCS-Foundation is a plant pathology research institute in the Netherlands. It was established in Amsterdam on 18 December 1894 but moved to Baarn in 1920.

The institute was begun in 1894 with funding from Mr C.W.R. Scholten and Mrs H.H. Scholten née Commelin and named after their deceased son Willie who had been interested in plant pathology after training under Hugo de Vries. In 1920, laboratory was moved to Baarn and placed under the University of Utrecht. In 1991 the laboratory in Baarn was closed but the WCS-Foundation continued to exist. Another institute of phytopathology was created at Wageningen and was directed by Professor J. Ritzema Bos and the WCS-Laboratory was placed under it. In 1906 the laboratory was headed by Johanna Westerdijk. The institute at Baarn was converted in 1964 into a repository for fungal cultures - ‘Centraalbureau voor Schimmelcultures’ (CBS).[1]